Putting Crisis in Perspective: Analyses of Past and Present Crises in Literature, Culture, and Foreign Language Teaching (Second Language Learning and Teaching) 3030867234, 9783030867232

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Second Language Learning and Teaching

Artur Skweres   Editor

Putting Crisis in Perspective Analyses of Past and Present Crises in Literature, Culture, and Foreign Language Teaching

Second Language Learning and Teaching Series Editor Mirosław Pawlak, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

The series brings together volumes dealing with different aspects of learning and teaching second and foreign languages. The titles included are both monographs and edited collections focusing on a variety of topics ranging from the processes underlying second language acquisition, through various aspects of language learning in instructed and non-instructed settings, to different facets of the teaching process, including syllabus choice, materials design, classroom practices and evaluation. The publications reflect state-of-the-art developments in those areas, they adopt a wide range of theoretical perspectives and follow diverse research paradigms. The intended audience are all those who are interested in naturalistic and classroom second language acquisition, including researchers, methodologists, curriculum and materials designers, teachers and undergraduate and graduate students undertaking empirical investigations of how second languages are learnt and taught.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10129

Artur Skweres Editor

Putting Crisis in Perspective Analyses of Past and Present Crises in Literature, Culture, and Foreign Language Teaching

Editor Artur Skweres Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts Adam Mickiewicz University Kalisz, Poland

ISSN 2193-7648 ISSN 2193-7656 (electronic) Second Language Learning and Teaching ISBN 978-3-030-86723-2 ISBN 978-3-030-86724-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Acknowledgements

The editor would like to express his gratitude to dr hab. Magdalena Łukasiuk (Institute of Applied Social Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland) for her helpful suggestions and comments, which have enhanced the quality of this work. The book would also not be published without the valuable guidance of Prof. Mirosław Pawlak (Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland, and State University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland). Thank you!

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Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Artur Skweres

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The Crises of the Past Pragmatic Play in Response to the Crisis in the “Magical World of the Ear” in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Its 1999 Film Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Artur Skweres The Clash of Divergent Political Strategies, Moral Categories and Literary Conventions in the Early Fifteenth Century Poetry: Mum and the Sothsegger as a Reflection of the Tensions Within the Crisis-Ridden Late Medieval Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joanna Bukowska The Crisis Appearing in the Construal of the Mediaeval Concepts of Truth, Soth and Faith in The Canterbury Tales with Their Contemporary Counterparts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Agnieszka Wawrzyniak

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Present Crises Different Shades of Crisis in Selected Advertising Messages . . . . . . . . . . . Anna Stwora Human and Space. Images of Conflict in the Levant Trilogy Project by Rita Leistner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kalina Kukiełko-Rogozi´nska and Krzysztof Tomanek

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The Influence of the Feeling of Crisis and Anxiety on High School Students’ Oral Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jagoda Mikołajewska

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Introduction Artur Skweres

Abstract The chapter provides a theoretical introduction to the concept of crisis, its definitions, and frequently discussed types. It is noted that crises sometimes resulted in calls for reform or change. While the reasons for a crisis at times remained unknown, as was in the case of geological disasters which affected vast regions of the world, the human-caused predicaments were frequently critically described and publicized by popular authors, such as Mark Twain or Norman Spinrad, as dire problems which need to be urgently addressed. Although technological crises tended to be treated similarly to natural, unavoidable disasters, they were clearly caused by human activity. It is therefore an important consideration that the new technologies in the twentieth century, whose effects were astutely perceived and described by scholars such as Marshall McLuhan, led to revolutionary changes and subsequent crises in many areas not commonly associated with technology. Finally, the author introduces the other chapters in the edited volume, which deal with the notions of crisis in various areas, such as literature, art, advertising, and teaching, each from their own theoretical perspective. Keywords Defining crisis · Types of crisis · Crisis as a stimulus for reform · Natural crisis · Technological crisis · Marshall McLuhan · Global village In 2021, the term crisis seems to be on everyone’s lips. There is no escaping the fact that we are on the cusp of a new social and economic crisis driven by the Coronavirus pandemic, which has affected everyone’s lives in 2019–2020 and will continue to do so in the years to come. However, it should be remembered that this is the latest in a long series of other crises which have long been brooding and were the subject of numerous publications. It is hoped that also this monograph will help to identify and describe various crises and their contexts. The meaning and perception of crisis has changed since antiquity. As Janet Roitman argues, the word for crisis in ancient Greek denoted judgment (deriving from A. Skweres (B) Department of English, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n, Pozna´n, Poland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_1

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Greek krino—to decide or to separate), which used to be associated with momentary, life-or-death decisions in medical practice, theology, or law but is now regarded as a prolonged state or condition (Roitman, 2014, pp. 15–16). In theology the same word was used to coin the phrase hemera kriseos, which signifies The Day of Judgment, mentioned in the Bible (Matthew 11:24). Although the meaning of crisis as the moment of judgment and separation seems to have been transposed to a situation perceived as a longer state of affairs, losing its meaning of finality and instantaneous judgment, it nonetheless retains its connotation with the state of urgency and a need for reaction to the changing conditions. Over the past thirty years there has been a significant number of publications dealing with multifarious aspects of crisis in various areas of life to which there seems to be no immediate resolution. Let us mention at least a handful. Apart from approaching the problem of political or historical crises, scholars described this notion in wider cultural spectrum, such as political communication (e.g., Blumler & Gurevitch, 1995), postmodern social and cultural relations (e.g., Dunn, 1998), masculinity and relationships (e.g., Robinson, 2000; Shumway, 2003), the media (e.g., Barglow, 1994; Caldwell, 1995), as well as the widely understood environmental crises which have gained more and more attention over the years (e.g., Buell, 2008). Due to the rising complexity of modern problems, several types of crises seem to be more dire and easily recognizable than others. Anthony Gidden’s popular coursebook Sociology provides context for many major crises which now plague mankind, including, but not limited to: crisis of masculinity but also a more general crisis of sexuality, food and environmental crisis, financial crisis, aging crisis but also the personal middle age crisis, as well as a moral crisis and general “‘crisis of trust’ in society” (Giddens, 2009). Works of fiction which belabor these problems are countless, since the aforementioned predicaments affect the way people view and react to their social environment. One such reaction is the crisis of identity: whether in the realms of politics, culture, or society at large, it is a phenomenon which causes a great deal of confusion in members of increasingly globalized communities the world over. According to Miller, “[w]e are in a crisis of belonging … [m]ore and more people are people feel they do not belong” (2007, p. 1). The crisis caused by the displacement of one’s place in the world, no longer fitting into one distinctly discernible group, may have been a reason for the development of postmodernist attitudes. As Hilary Lawson argues, crisis lies at the heart of postmodernism: “[t]he postmodern predicament is indeed one of crisis, a crisis of our truths, our values, our most cherished beliefs. A crisis that owes to reflexivity its origin, its necessity and its force. Reflexivity, as a turning back on oneself, a form of self-awareness, has been part of philosophy since its inception” (Lawson, 1985). Crisis, therefore, may be considered as well-known and recognized as significant, and yet always new and surprising in its immediacy and urgency. Reflexivity and introspection is not the only response to crisis. Another popular belief was popularized by John F. Kennedy. While still a presidential candidate, he popularized the notion that the Chinese word for crisis is composed of two signs: one for danger and one for opportunity. Kennedy argued that despite the danger involved, one should see the chance that lies in the resolution of the situation at its turning point.

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Although his interpretation of the word’s meaning was not entirely correct, his saying became such a widespread trope that it received its own Wikipedia page (Wikipedia Contributors, 2021). Crisis can be public or private, but it can be argued that it is most often the public crisis which garners the most attention since it brings the most widely-reaching risks. In politics and diplomacy crisis and its management are the subject of particular attention, since both areas often concern the means of preserving the non-threatening status quo. Hence, Coral Bell argued that “the essence of a true crisis in any given relationship is that the conflicts within it rise to a level which threatens to transform the nature of the relationship” (1971, p. 9). In a relationship, conflicts are a given—it is only when they reach a point which transforms the relationship itself when they can be viewed as an example of a crisis. Crisis was often used as a buzzword, with the desire to spark a movement. One of the early examples was Thomas Paine’s famous The American Crisis pamphlets (1776–1783), which greatly popularized the American independence movement. The Crisis (1910—ongoing) is also the name of the magazine first edited by W. E. B. Du Bois, which propagated the cause of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and continues to bring attention to the problems that ethnic minorities have to face. Sometimes the crisis that the authors perceived and attempted to utilize to arouse fervor for reform (if not outright revolution) failed to move the readers. Such may have been the case of Howard Fast, the author of Spartacus, whose subversive, Marxist interpretation of crises plaguing ancient Rome and 1950s America was all but abandoned in the famous film adaptation of his novel (Malamud, 2009, pp. 6–7). Yet, there can be no doubt that such attempts have been numerous, regardless of their results. Fiction authors have a long tradition of pointing their public’s attention to valid questions concerning solutions to emerging social crises. Well known are the literary examples of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899), which turned the attention of the world to the plight of slaves in King Leopold’s Congo, or the works of the literary star Mark Twain, who was frequently concerned by the crisis of conscience caused by American slavery. Writers have been noted to discern the seeds of culture’s own destruction planted in a status quo which seemed to satisfy the general public. In his essay “Science Fiction and the Transformation Crisis” (1999), Norman Spinrad addressed the burning issue of contemporary dangers caused by culture evolving in a direction which might cause its demise by means of a deadly technology, such as nuclear weapons, which it is able to produce. A political crisis often led to the creation of works of culture which have remained timeless classics, not necessarily associated with the problems pertinent at the time of their creation (e.g., Takayuki Tatsumi argues that the anxiety present in Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951) anticipates the possible nuclear world war as much as the black comedy Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), which was responding to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 [2010, pp. 442–443]). The reasons behind a crisis sometimes remain unknown for centuries. Such was the case of numerous ecological disasters, which spanned enormous areas and affected millions of people. For instance, while the Plague in the fourteenth century killed

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more than a hundred million people in Europe and Asia, its causes were mysterious to the contemporaries. At the time, no one could have known that the disease was spread by fleas carried by rats. Similarly, distant volcanic eruptions could affect the lives of millions of people without their knowing the cause. In 1600 the eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru influenced the climate, delayed or failed crops across Eurasia, while the eighteenth century eruption of Laki volcano in Iceland is noted to have caused famine and diseases in Ottoman Egypt. Even today, the influence of the climate on people’s lives remains largely ignored and yet is popularized by often naïve and bombastic cli-fi disaster blockbusters such as Twister (1996), Volcano (1997), or 2012 (2009). Thanks to Marshall McLuhan and the researchers who followed in his footsteps, such as the creator of the field of media ecology, Neil Postman, we now realize that the natural environment has greatly been replaced by the artificial environment of the media. Writing in the 1980s, Postman noted that when television ended the primacy of printed epistemology, humanity “reached … a critical mass in that electronic media have decisively and irreversibly changed the character of our symbolic environment” (2005, p. 28). Arguably the most imperceptible and yet influential crises are caused by new technologies. Such has always been the case with the emergence of more advanced weaponry, which transformed the way wars were fought. Hence, the balance of power was forever changed by the implementation of the longbow, crossbow, gunpowder, machine guns, or rockets, which caused such devastating loss of life that it put not only the military in crises but also affected politics and social makeup of societies. The recent conflicts already show that the unmanned, automatized weapons, such as drones, will once again alter the way warfare is conducted in the future. Although the changes in war technology seem to be the most perceptible, other technological inventions can cause as much havoc in the seemingly stable status quo. Such were the revolutions in literature and learning caused by the introduction of the print technology, which was one of the seminal events ending the period later referred to—with a fair degree of undeserved condescension to be sure—as the Middle Ages. In the modern era, the emergence of electric and electronic mass media gave rise to cultural developments which still puzzle researchers. It cannot be doubted that a substantial reason for the general anxiety in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been the development of new media, which brought about transformations in our the western culture that can only be described as momentous in scope. According to Marshall McLuhan, the emergence and development of electronic media would eventually cause the implosion of human interactions to the scale of what he called a global village. A village replete with information about everything and everyone, closeness to others which sometimes feels too close for comfort, and the inevitable conflicts which range from serious disputes on the level of nations to petty squabbles on social media that may at any moment become viral and reach anyone in the world. It seems inevitable that such a momentous change, bringing together people of various cultures would inevitably lead to a crisis. In fact, as McLuhan argued, “[t]he Global Village ensures for maximal disagreement on all points because it creates more division and diversity under the increase of the village conditions” (McLuhan & Michel, 2014, p. 97). As the Canadian media scholar stated in his classic work,

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Understanding Media, the age of electric media would inevitably lead to the crisis stemming from decentralization and increased involvement in the global village. He further noted that this phenomenon would also impact our education, which would have to undergo changes to accommodate the new conditions. Our new concern with education follows upon the changeover to an interrelation in knowledge, where before the separate subjects of the curriculum had stood apart from each other. Departmental sovereignties have melted away as rapidly as national sovereignties under conditions of electric speed. Obsession with the older patterns of mechanical, one-way expansion from centers to margins is no longer relevant to our electric world. Electricity does not centralize, but decentralizes. (McLuhan, 2017, p. 55)

Crisis resulting from the replacement of old patterns by the new ones seems the inevitable outcome. McLuhan’s argument ought also to be considered and, if possible, applied in institutions of higher education. If the old compartmentalization and separation of different areas of knowledge is indeed no longer possible, scholars should prepare and react to this crises before it reaches its culmination. Rather than stick with the “older patterns” and disappearing “departmental sovereignties,” they should focus on using the electric environment to bring together heretofore disparate branches of knowledge and lead to the creation of new, decentralized patterns of thought. This assumption led to the idea behind the volume which the reader is currently holding. The texts which appear in it tackle the problem of crisis in a variety of ways and approach it from perspectives typical to their own branches of knowledge with the hope that the reader draws conclusion that are the most applicable in the situation at hand. This does not mean, however, that the discussed instances of crises are purely hypothetical. Each of the authors of the chapters contained in this book bases their discussion of the subject of crisis on concrete examples, pertinent to their areas of expertise. The monograph was divided in two parts. The first part deals with the instances of crises discussed in relation to past times in the areas of American and English literature, as well as the historical developments in the English language. In the second part, authors discuss the instances of tackling the problems of contemporary crises in advertising, photography, and teaching. The first chapter considers the playful response to crisis caused by the conflict between the local society representing the “magical world of the ear” and the solitary, individualistic invader—the overtly ambitious and greedy man shaped by the culture of print. Artur Skweres analyzes Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Pierre Gang’s film with the same title, demonstrating that the screen adaptation not only successfully transposed the classic story to the audio-visual medium but also managed to add elements to it which open new grounds for analysis. The author argues that the conflict between Ichabod Crane and Brom “Bones” Van Brunt may not only be interpreted as rivalry between two disparate characters but signifies a wider cultural conflict between the pre-typographic, backwater Tarry Town, characterized by the need for communality and “sensuous involvement” and the representative of the new, aggressive force of typographic mindset, guided by

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preeminence of the sense of sight: unifying, ordering, and neutral. Using the theories of Marshall McLuhan as well as his own drawings as a method of film analysis, the author reveals how the local population of Tarry Town manages to end the crisis through playful behavior, while stressing that the reasons for Crane’s failure primarily lie in his inability to accommodate to the “magical world of the ear.” The second chapter, penned by Joanna Bukowska, provides an in-depth analysis of the 15th-century poem Mum and the Sothsegger. The author demonstrates how deep and unpredictable both the effects and the results of a crisis can be. Mum and the Sothsegger was written in late Middle Ages, which abounded in dramatic events, such as Little Ice Age or the Great Plague that unexpectedly reshaped European society. While such tragedies could not have been helped by human actions at the time, the author concentrates on problems which were under the influence of society. Hence, in the character of Mum, the author sees a typical court careerist who does not care about the welfare of others; Sothsegger, on the other hand, is his complete opposite and at the expense of his own safety decides to tell the truth about the exploitation of the poor by the very people who could help them: the clergy and the ruling class. Although they have the means to solve the current and future problems, which could lead to the eruption of social unrest, the crisis is not resolved. As the author argues, the key issue in the poem is the truth, devotion to which would cause fair behavior towards the poorest and could resolve the crisis. The concept of truth also lies at the heart of the chapter by Agnieszka Wawrzyniak, titled “The crisis appearing in the construal of the mediaeval notions of truth, soth and faith in The Canterbury Tales with their contemporary counterparts.” The author discusses Middle English concepts of “truth,” “soth,” and “faith” in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and points to the differences in perception of the aforementioned concepts in contemporary English. According to the author, the change in meaning and use of these words discloses a crisis in values espoused by the Western European society, since literature, culture and language are inextricably interrelated. The following chapter marks the beginning of the second part of the monograph because it refers to examples of contemporary crises in the media aimed at reaching the widest possible audiences. In terms of effectiveness and well thought-out structure, advertising approaches and in some cases certainly attains the level of an art form. Due to the strong relationship with the rapidly growing branches of industry and trade, advertising fully uses the capabilities of the audio-visual media, technical knowhow, opportunities offered by global consumption, while the market research and budget available to the creators of advertising seems to be second to none. Failing to include an article in this area of studies would be a missed opportunity. Hence, the phenomenon of the modern crisis in this context was examined by Anna Stwora, whose article “Different shades of crisis in selected advertising messages” offers an insightful and thought-provoking commentary on the importance of commercial communication. The author emphasizes that crisis does not affect the ads themselves, whose popularity is not waning. She encourages the readers, however, to devote attention to the non-commercial potential of advertisements, which could be used to overcome the numerous crises looming in modern society. Accordingly, ads could be utilized to visualize problems such as violence or injustice, making full

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use of the reach and multimodality of this medium to increase the efficiency of the message. According to the author, showing crisis through advertising can be a means to draw attention to it and, as a result, to help in its resolution. In the chapter “Human and space. Images of conflict in the Levant Trilogy project by Rita Leistner,” Kalina Kukiełko-Rogozi´nska and Krzysztof Tomanek focus on the representation of crisis in the works of the Rita Leistner. The Canadian photographer documented the conflict in the Middle East which has continued for over a hundred years. Her visual documentation connects artistic means of expression with journalistic need for a truthful representation of humans in real-life situations. As the authors demonstrate, Rita Leistner’s trips to Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, which spanned a decade, have produced works which merit scholarly attention. Representing real people in the midst of one of the greatest modern crises reveals the means by which humans cope with the fear, stress, and loss which inevitably accompany prolonged warfare. Kukiełko-Rogozi´nska and Tomanek conduct a detailed analysis of the works of the Canadian photographer, while formulating suppositions concerning the nature of boundaries not only between countries and people, but also between art and reality. Finally, one of the most important problems affecting modern society is the issue of teaching. The result of current and future crises largely depends on the way the young generation is educated to deal with such issues. In the last chapter of the collection, Jagoda Mikołajewska offers insightful commentary on “The influence of the feeling of crisis and anxiety on high school students’ oral performance.” In her text, the author draws attention to the issue of self-confidence of learners of English as a foreign language. Not limiting herself to the analysis of types of anxiety that the student has to face in a crisis situation, she also considers aspects of the student’s personality, “affective factors,” which are likewise important in this case. Having conducted her research, the author discusses its results, indicating whether anxiety influences speaking performance of a second language learner. Marshall McLuhan’s words have been quoted to identify the changes and the resulting social unrest in the world, however, they should not be understood in a deterministic way. Certainly, the many predicaments, which we have been witnessing for a long time have a chance to be resolved or even averted, should they be identified in time. We are not defenseless in the face of a crisis. Solutions to problems taking place in the modern world and to those that are yet to come could be sought in the past. The experience accumulated by previous generations can be used to provide us with knowledge of how to fight crises resulting from various causes and affecting different areas of life. This should be the role of scholars who, standing on the shoulders of the giants of the past, have the chance to identify the root causes of the crises, which in turn could later be used to suggest the possible preventative or remedial measures. Such was the purpose of the researchers whose texts were collected in this monograph. They represent diverse fields: from literary and cultural studies to linguistics and teaching. Their authors conduct their research at leading universities in Poland: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, University of Silesia, Jagiellonian University, and University of Szczecin. It would be impossible for this short monograph to exhaust the topic of crisis, however, it is the authors’ intention that the analyzes contained in this volume contribute to an increase of the state of knowledge about

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this extremely important and, as can be concluded from the following texts, always topical phenomenon.

References Barglow, R. (1994). The crisis of the self in the age of information: Computers, dolphins, and dreams. Routledge. Bell, C. (1971). The conventions of crisis: A study in diplomatic management. Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1995). The crisis of public communication. Routledge. Buell, L. (2008). The future of environmental criticism: Environmental crisis and literary imagination. Blackwell Publishing. Caldwell, J. T. (1995). Televisuality: Style, crisis and authority in American television. Rutgers University Press. Dunn, R. G. (1998). Identity crisis: A social critique of postmodernism. University of Minnesota Press. Giddens, A. (2009). Sociology (6th ed.). Polity Press. Lawson, H. (1985). Reflexivity: The post-modern predicament. Open Court. Malamud, M. (2009). Ancient Rome and Modern America. Wiley-Blackwell. McLuhan, M. (2017). Understanding Media. Critical Edition: The extensions of man: Understanding media—The extensions of man. MIT Press. McLuhan, M., Michel, M. (2014). Media research: Technology, art and communication, critical voices in art, theory and exchange. Taylor and Francis. Miller, T. (2007). Cultural citizenship: Cosmopolitanism, consumerism and television in a neoliberal age. Temple University Press. Postman, N. (2005). Amusing ourselves to death. Public discourse in the age of show business. Penguin Books. Robinson, S. (2000). Marked men: White masculinity in crisis. Columbia UP. Roitman, J. (2014). Anti-Crisis. Duke University Press. Shumway, D. R. (2003). Modern love: Romance, intimacy and the marriage crisis. New York University Press. Spinrad, N. (1999). Norman Spinrad: The transformation crisis. Locus Magazine. February 1999. Tatsumi, T. (2010). Race and black humor: From a planetary perspective. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 21(3), 439–454. Wikipedia Contributors (2021, January 12). Chinese word for “crisis”. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:41, February 8, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Chinese_word_for_%22crisis%22&oldid=999807682

The Crises of the Past

Pragmatic Play in Response to the Crisis in the “Magical World of the Ear” in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Its 1999 Film Adaptation Artur Skweres Abstract The chapter discusses the manner in which Washington Irving’s “Legend of the Sleepy Hollow” and its film adaptation directed by Gang (1999) present a ludic response to the crisis caused by the appearance and expansionist nature of print culture in the “magical world of the ear” of the Sleepy Hollow. The famous Headless Horseman seems to represent an impenetrable barrier to the teacher, Ichabod Crane, who is deeply influenced by print-culture. However, his ultimate failure stems from the lack of acceptance by the local community. Its leading representative, Brom “Bones” Van Brunt, actively opposes his rival’s attempts to gain quick social promotion through the marriage with Katrina Van Tassel. As an illiterate man belonging to a pre-typographic culture, he firmly rejects the ambitions of Ichabod who constantly boasts about his education, and through play contributes to the defeat of the highly literate rival. In the analysis, special attention is paid to the creative way in which the film adaptation extends the plot of Irving’s story and allows for the interpretation of both texts in terms of theories referring to Marshall McLuhan’s thoughts. Keywords Legend of Sleepy Hollow · Washington Irving · Marshall McLuhan · Adaptation · Film · Oneiric play · Pragmatic play · Pre-literate · Print culture · Media ecology · Crisis Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” has proven to be one of the most enduring stories of American literature. The reasons for its continued popularity certainly lie in its well-crafted structure, iconic characters, amusing story, and the inclusion of a possibly supernatural figure of the eponymous legend, the feared Headless Horseman. It is the ambiguity surrounding the identity of the ghost that may be seen as the most crucial reason behind the story’s lasting appeal (Smith, 2001). Hence, it should come as no surprise that the film adaptations of the story frequently focus on whether the ghost was merely a trick played by Brom or a real specter. This chapter will discuss the film adaptation, which combines both approaches and A. Skweres (B) Department of English, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n, Pozna´n, Poland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_2

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succeeds in transposing the classic story to screen as both faithful to the original and creatively expanding on its source material. The 1999 Hallmark/Artisan adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was directed by Pierre Gang and written by Joe Wiesenfeld based on the story of Washington Irving. It starred Brent Carver as Ichabod Crane, Paul Lemelin as Brom Bones, and Rachelle Lefevre as Katrina Van Tassle. Made for television, it can be said to be the polar opposite of the more well-known adaptation of the story, Tim Burton’s big budget horror film Sleepy Hollow, which was released in the same year. Contrary to the latter, it celebrated and respectfully expanded on the source text rather than use a more transformative, postmodern approach resulting in what James M. Welsh described as “[taking] outrageous and absurd liberties” with the original text (2007, 172). Pierre Gang’s film is not only a faithful adaptation through the transposition to screen it also offers a subtle, audio-visual commentary on Irving’s story. This chapter will therefore consider both the original short story and its film adaptation as basis for analysis. Moreover, the study will be supplemented by original drawings, which serve a double purpose. Firstly, they were instrumental as a method of film analysis, allowing the author to decide which parts of the film’s imagery were crucial. The sketches document the process of scrutinizing the movie image. The second purpose is to visually guide the reader, revealing the most important aspects of the discussed scenes. Rather than a simple screenshot of the film, which would frequently be cluttered with details that are irrelevant for the present analysis, the drawings are selective and present the situation, while also providing the minimum of information which is necessary to understand its context. The investigation of both texts will be concerned with the consideration of the role of play as a response to a crisis which arouse from the arrival of representative of print culture to a secluded area shrouding the vestige of a preliterate culture. It is a new approach, although it is in keeping with earlier interpretations of Irving’s text. Along with “Rip Van Winkle” by the same author, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was typically associated with the formation of legends that the new nation lacked, as well as with the sentiment of loss accompanying rapid social, economic and political change which has always been a characteristic of the American nation. As noted by Grey, Irving “reflect[s] on change and [presents] a vanishing America, which is the setting for this story, as an endangered pastoral ideal” (Grey, 2004, p. 106). Hence, the source of the conflict in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” could be seen as the fear of the unknown, symbolized by the story’s main character, Ichabod Crane, resulting in the change which inevitably reaches even the most secluded parts of the country. Extrapolating further on the notion of the outside interference forcing transformations, Thompson considers the tale as an anti-colonialist allegory, with Ichabod Crane symbolizing English endeavors to dominate the Dutch; despite his “cartoonish” appearance, the teacher is “at bottom a covert colonizer, a man of subterfuge …. who is driven solely by thoughts of acquisition and profit.” (Thompson, 2013). From the perspective of contemporary readers or audiences (in case of the film adaptation), the local culture confronted by Ichabod, although unique in its seclusion, would inevitably have to succumb to change. Despite his shortcomings, the teacher visiting Tarry Town stands for the powers of progress, which although it may be led

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Fig. 1 The contrast between the wary homemaker, Hans Van Ripper, who is always occupied with work and taking care of his livestock, and the freeloading, opportunistic Ichabod Crane is stressed by their disparate figures as much as by what they consider to be important possessions

by dishonest, greedy and fallible agents, nonetheless would triumph over the larger than life local heroes such as Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt. Like in the case of the American folk legend John Henry, who died as a result of a heroic competition against a steam engine, so would the small and independent town of Sleepy Hollow be dominated by the unifying force of the federalist government. To counter such a looming force, which as the audience knows would ultimately triumph, supernatural help is needed. Irving’s short story suggests Brom and the Headless Horseman are the same person. However, the film adaptation presents the paranormal specter as real, replacing the roguish Brom Bones in mocking and scaring the intruder, and inducing him to flee the town. However, the adaptation also increases the role of Katrina and her father, both of whom learn of Ichabod’s duplicitous nature of a self-absorbed hypocrite focused on acquiring her wealth, and who reject him in no uncertain measure. Therefore, the supernatural element serves more the function of lifting the spirits of the members of the community which would inevitably undergo changes that were shaping the rest of the country. It is the ghost of the foreign, but now localized enemy soldier who finally chases the unwelcomed visitor away, which seems to suggest that the domesticized genius loci of Sleepy Hollow rejects Ichabod and his progressive, domineering nature. In Pierre Gang’s adaptation, Ichabod is treated as an outsider ever since his arrival. When he reaches his destination, he is first asked by his future host, Hans Van Ripper, if he is a “government man” (Hewitt et al., 1999), which obviously has negative connotations for the farmer (Fig. 1). Later, during one of his visits of his pupils’ families, Ichabod is gorging on the food presented to him by Mrs. Van Ecke; in that

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Fig. 2 Expanding his image beyond the source of gossip and interesting information, the adaptation presents Ichabod as the object of desire, albeit tongue in cheek

scene we can observe we see the reservations local people have toward his purpose and the effects of his teaching. Mr. Van Ecke uses the occasion to warn him to be very practical in his instructions and to refrain from teaching his son any “newfangled notions,” such as taxes. He also forbids Ichabod to teach his son to count higher than 20, since “that’s all the hens that fits in [their] coop” (Hewitt et al., 1999). The film also subtly identifies Ichabod as an object of desire for the local women. For instance, the wife of his host, Mrs. Van Ripper, seems rather attracted to his skinny frame (always comically exaggerated whenever the teacher and her corpulent husband are onscreen together) when he approaches her dressed only in his long underwear (Fig. 2). One can argue that in the adaptation Ichabod is a rival not only of Brom, but also of the other men in Tarry Town, a possibly disturbing force, which can break up the family bonds. This sentiment is expressed by their frequently negative attitude toward Ichabod, seen as not only as an unwelcome guest interfering in the moments of respite but also as someone who has the appetite for more than he earned with his work. Such a sentiment is especially pronounced in Ichabod’s exchanges with Baltus Van Tassel, Katrina’s father, which will be discussed later in the chapter. The adaptation reveals numerous characters to be wary of Ichabod Cranes’ intentions, which is in keeping with his characterization in Irving’s story. In the latter, the

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teacher seems to treat his education and social status as the reason for his ascendancy. Naturally feeding his fantasies, which were possibly nourished by his reading, Crane sees himself as a monarch, whose authority is asserted by his superior education: … Ichabod, in pensive mood, sat enthroned on the lofty stool from whence he usually watched all the concerns of his little literary realm. In his hand he swayed a ferule, that sceptre of despotic power; the birch of justice reposed on three nails behind the throne, a constant terror to evil doers, while on the desk before him might be seen sundry contraband articles and prohibited weapons, detected upon the persons of idle urchins, such as half-munched apples, popguns, whirligigs, fly-cages, and whole legions of rampant little paper gamecocks. (Irving, 1906, p. 49)

Despite his realm being limited to the classroom, and his subjects to young pupils, Ichabod is portrayed as a supreme ruler. The humor of such a depiction stems from the fact that his kingdom is laughable in its scope, as symbolized by the quality of the weapons he confiscated from his vassals to proclaim his dominion. They are mere toys, while his domain is merely “literary” and therefore has little actual influence on the world outside of his fantasy. Nonetheless, the humorous description seems to disclose the teacher’s ambitions, which see his education as the means to an end—to elevate his social status in a despotic manner. The amassed items are seen as having possible military use (the “prohibited weapons” and “legions of … gamecocks”) (Irving, 1906, p. 49) and resemble the manner in which he sees the livestock on the Van Tassel farm (“troops of sucking pigs,” a “stately squadron of snowy geese,” “fleets of ducks,” “regiments of turkeys,” etc.) (Irving, 1906, p. 35), which he so eagerly awaits to seize and consume. When one considers the source of Ichabod’s authority and privileged position which allows him to approach Katrina with the possible prospect of marrying her, it is without a doubt his education. In the short story, Ichabod Crane is “esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition” (Irving, 1906, p. 25) because he read several books. In the film adaptation the value he puts on the literary knowledge is stressed especially well, since the only visible possession he carries are his books and a small bundle on a stick. In his absence, however, the books do not seem to retain their value. At the end of the film his belongings are publicly counted and discarded as negligible and more trouble to keep than they are worth. It is only through the power of his education (frequently shown to be superficial) and the resulting confidence that he manages to affirm a stable and comfortable foothold in society. Perhaps that is the reason why he considers knowledge as a way to improve one’s position and dominance in the world. It is easy to see how this thought is internalized and gives him an unsubstantiated sense of superiority, which does impress the women in the town, while either amusing or unnerving the practically inclined men. The film adaptation contains a scene which very clearly displays Ichabod’s views on the merits of literacy. When he first appears as the new teacher in school, it seems that the task before him would be difficult, since the young pupils do not seem to be interested in their instruction. Yet after Ichabod Crane affirms his authority with the loud bang of his cane, he begins his class with an introduction to spelling: “Why must we learn to spell correctly what we speak and write? Well, here’s how the great man himself explains it. ‘To diffuse an uniformity and purity of language in

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America—to destroy the provincial prejudices that originate in the trifling differences of dialect, and produce reciprocal ridicule1 ’” (Hewitt et al., 1999). Thus, Crane internalizes Webster’s idea brought about by the print-technology and the moveable type that standardization is desired2 and that uniformization equals purity and value, as opposed to the differences stemming from nonliterate proliferation of various dialects. The follow up question on the meaning of the quotation is an occasion for humorous reversal, in which a simple boy manages to think of a convincing counterargument, to the merriment of the other boys. As the teacher explains that “by learning proper spelling and pronunciation… no one will laugh at you when you travel away from sleepy hollow. Is that clear?” (Hewitt et al., 1999) one of the pupils, Ernest, asks if it is necessary to attend school if they do not plan on ever leaving Sleepy Hollow. The simple, humorous exchange points to the underlying conflict between Ichabod Crane and the inhabitants of the town—he seeks to remove them from their element and thus to put himself in a controlling, dominant position. Ichabod shows similar attitude toward Katrina and his rival, Brom, whom he wishes dominate and to “teach a lesson.” Ichabod does not seem to see any merits in Brom, such as athleticism or courage, whereas he is well aware of his rival’s lack of education, which he perceives as a disqualifying disadvantage. Hence, once he sees his rival on the ground, unconscious after falling off a horse, he uses the chance to assert his own superiority, talking down to him as if the so far superior rival was one of the urchins at school. During the climax of the story, just before being approached by the real Headless Horseman, Ichabod places the artificial head used by Brom, the pumpkin head on his own shoulders (Fig. 3). This signifies that he perceives himself as superior to Brom because only he can “shoulder” the responsibility which Brom “foolishly” tried to take upon himself and thereby assume the position of the future inheritor of the Van Tassel fortune, which Ichabod thought was only fit for himself. Knowing that his much stronger rival is unconscious, he mockingly asks him a question about the pumpkin “Is this your head?” and replies to himself “Well, it must be. It’s full of mush.” (Hewitt et al., 1999). His derisive comparison seems to allude to a pun constructed on the similarity between “country bumpkin” and a “pumpkin,” once again revealing Ichabod’s condescension to be stemming from his superior level of education and cultivation when compared with the “uncultivated,” primitive, and illiterate rival. Apart from the commentary on the fear of change of the traditional way of life, the plot of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is undeniably centered around the pivot of conflict between Ichabod and Brom, both of whom vie for Katrina’s attention. The two are too different for the distinction not to be the most apparent. Thus, Smith and Eby note that Ichabod can be characterized as the stereotypical “city slicker” who has 1

He is reading from the Noah Webster’s Preface to American Spelling Book in 1783 Noah Webster, The American Spelling Book: Containing an Easy Standard of Pronunciation, Being the First Part of a Grammatical Institute of the English Language (Webster, 1793), p. x. 2 E.g., McLuhan noted that the moveable type led to standardization, affecting culture centuries after Gutenberg’s invention “Gutenberg created Henry Ford and the assembly line and standardized culture” (2017, p. 298), also claiming that “[p]rint had a levelling function on all verbal and social forms.” (2011, p. 271).

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Fig. 3 Ichabod immediately recognizes the visual metaphor behind the pumpkin and Brom’s head, perhaps imagining in his oneirically playful disposition that he symbolically beheaded his rival

to face a “country bumpkin” (Eby, 1987; Smith, 2001) and by extension represent the frequently portrayed American literary theme of the conflict between the intellectual (urban) and the “physically practical” (rural) (Smith, 2001). Brom is characterized as a force to be reckoned with: skilled, strong, brave, and authoritative. In the story, he is seen as a master rider, to the point of being associated with the Tartars for his horsemanship skills but also for his uncivilized and wild activities. His group is called a “gang” by “old dames” and is compared to a “troop of Don Cossacks” (Irving, 1906, p. 42) which immediately forms an association with the wilderness and the grasslands at the banks of the river Don, also at times under the influence of the Golden Horde of the Tartars. Other members of society treat him like a force of nature, easily recognizable by the noise he makes with his brawls in the vicinity, the clamor of his gang riding at nighttime, by also by a visual cue: his characteristic fur cap with a fox’s tail (absent from the adaptation). In the film Brom also stresses on several occasions that he does not know how to read or write and sees this as a major distinction between himself and Ichabod. All of the aforementioned associations link him with primal nature as much as with the life in a group as opposed to solitary individualism, typical for the visually-oriented Ichabod. At this point is should be noted that the root of the crisis in Sleepy Hollow is Crane’s inability to make a connection with the local society without the immediate desire to alter and dominate, which stems from the conflict between the literate (understood here as the culture shaped by the proliferation of print) and illiterate (pre-typographic) culture. Both Brom and Ichabod are examples of McLuhan’s thesis that one’s literacy in the age of print and moveable type alters one’s perception of reality. Brom is clearly

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an example of a pre-typographic man, while Ichabod illustrates the result of “[t]he interiorization of the technology of the phonetic alphabet [which] translates man from the magical world of the ear to the neutral visual world.” (Mcluhan, 2011, p. 26). Sleepy Hollow’s description in the story can certainly be identified as the “magical world of the ear.” Irving’s narrator, Diedrich Knickerbocker not only stresses the important effect which the secluded valley had on the sense of hearing: “…when all nature is peculiarly quiet … startled by the roar of my own gun, as it broke the Sabbath stillness around and was prolonged and reverberated by the angry echoes” (Irving, 1906, p. 12) but also has the impression that the place is imbued with magic of mysterious origins: [a] drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a High German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. (Irving, 1906, p. 13)

It should therefore come as no surprise that Brom’s culture seems to be completely at variance with the attitude of Ichabod and more akin to what McLuhan describes as “sensuous involvement natural to cultures in which literacy is not the ruling form of experience” (McLuhan, 2017, p. 111). Endowed with “a degree of rough chivalry,” Brom resembles a knight-errant in that he would have preferred to resolve the issue of his rival in a duel. This, however, has no effect on the cautious and flexible teacher. As Knickerbocker makes clear, Ichabod Crane remains “obstinately pacific” in his relations with Brom Bones, aware of the latter’s “superior might” and using his innate “pliability and perseverance” to avoid open conflict with his overwhelmingly strong rival (Irving, 1906, pp. 43, 48). In the adaptation, however, Ichabod is granted a moment of accidental and very brief triumph over Brom. When the latter scares Ichabod in the disguise of the Headless Horseman, he inadvertently falls off his horse and provides the teacher with an opportunity to discover the identity of his pursuer. Once he learns that the Horseman was none other than his arch-rival, the visually-minded Ichabod displays his superiority by mounting a pumpkin on his shoulder and referencing a head full of mush. As such, he is not only humiliating his opponent, who is still unconscious, but also attempting to tame “the magical world of the ear” with a prop that becomes a visual symbol and thus in the middle of the dark woods ascertains the superiority of “the neutral visual world.” The film contains other, subtle allusions to Ichabod’s propensity to dominate his surroundings while attempting to remain non-involved and visually separate. While some of his actions are ridiculous in the eyes of the inhabitants of Tarry Town, they do serve the purpose of visually enhancing his stature or position. He borrows and wears an exaggeratingly elegant costume fit for a wedding rather than simple merrymaking. Similarly, during one of his visits to Katrina’s household, he is observed by Baltus Van Tassel when he is sitting in the host’s own dressing gown and armchair (Fig. 4). Seeing that bold intrusion, Baltus Van Tassel comments with amusement “It occurs to

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Fig. 4 Enticed by his host to engage in his oneiric fantasies, Ichabod undergoes a transformation which visually enhances and aggrandizes his figure and, by extension, his authority

me that if a stranger were to come in now, he’d judge you to be the master here and me the guest.” (Hewitt et al., 1999). Both the gown and the comfortable armchair seem too big for Ichabod and add to the comical effect of the scene, while also pointing to the extraordinary ambitions of the newcomer who above all seeks to improve and visually enlarge his image. However, Ichabod also uses his voice and dance to expand his influence. During the festivities, he dances with large and expansive movements. Moreover, both in the story and in the film he makes himself distinctive by chanting loudly during the church service as well as during his walk through the woods at night. In both cases he is attempting to dominate his surrounding through sound while disregarding the need to adapt to others and sing in harmony with them, or at least not to offend their ears with noise. Yet soon after his brief triumph, Ichabod’s downfall also comes in the place which he feared the most due to its nondescript and unqualifiable nature—the forest at night. Immediately after he starts to gloat and visually asserts his advantage by putting the pumpkin on his shoulders, his speech is interrupted by a loud and unnerving, nondiegetic sound. We can observe the difference in his expression due to something he perceives but the audience does not. This changes when Ichabod turns around and the Headless Horseman makes himself apparent to the viewers, not yet visually: first by a nondescript, diegetic noise that he makes, then by Ichabod’s head turning upward, signifying that the source of the sound is higher than his eye-level, and then moving his head forward again, which informs the viewer that the object of his gaze has passed over him quickly, casting shadow on his face. The quick sequence

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is followed by a closeup of his terrified expression and only then by the view of the specter in the shape of a headless trunk of a person on horseback, dark yet illuminated with an eerie glow on the edges of the figure. The entire sequence serves to undermine Ichabod’s haughty speech about not being fooled by the story of the Headless Horseman, while the immediacy and inexplicable closeness of the danger breaks the barriers he has erected around himself to shield his mind from the influence of his surroundings. His visual acuity and farsighted, “obstinate [pacifism]” (Irving, 1906, p. 48) could not have prepared him for this encounter with the uncanny, which does not observe the rules of civilized conduct. Consequently, Ichabod is immediately dominated by fear of the unknown. Moreover, the surprise attack comes from the back, the region entirely outside of the field of view not only of Ichabod, but also of the members of the audience. The reasons for such a presentation may be to increase the sense of tension and foreboding while we as viewers can concentrate on Ichabod’s terrified countenance, thereby influencing our own reaction to what we are about to behold. However, it also reduces the source of the danger to the threatening sounds, both diegetic and nondiegetic, which we can hear. As members of the audience we need to rely on the sense of hearing much more than the sense of sight. By being made to focus on Ichabod, we concentrate entirely on his person and by observing him we may gather information about his surroundings. In such a manner we are put in the position Ichabod has been in throughout the film—focused on his own person and measuring everything and everyone that surrounds him through the perspective which places him as the focus point. This can be seen as a commentary on his isolation and individualism, which brought about the crisis of miscommunication with the local society. The other inhabitants of Tarry Town were always immersed in their environment, in close contact with other people or animals, stressing their need for a sense of community rather than individuality and visual dissimilitude from others. The attitude of Ichabod Crane is made all the more distinctive when compared with the persona of the narrator, Dietrich Knickerbocker. The adaptation follows the format of the original story by framing it with the remarks of Knickerbocker and giving voice to the storyteller who recounts the tale to the writer. Rather than only relying on the Postscript to shed more light on the unbelievable nature of the discussed events, the adaptation begins with the scene of a traveler entering a tavern. In the beginning, middle, and at the end of the film Knickerbocker is shown listening to the burghers at the inn, which provides context and commentary for the story but also distances the viewers from Ichabod as the main character. When the story of Ichabod Crane begins, we see a protracted sequence of Ichabod in isolation, walking toward his destination. This is where the crucial difference between him and Knickerbocker becomes apparent. The latter’s arrival in the midst of the locals is immediate and his attitude shows exemplary kindness toward them, despite the reservations of the innkeeper, who advises him to refrain from keeping their company. Knickerbocker openly explains his purpose—that of writing down stories and legends, which is met with the approval and cooperation of the people who surround him. This harmonious cooperation is at complete variance with the situation described in the story told to Knickerbocker and which forms its central conflict. As it was stated, the protagonist

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of the story, Ichabod Crane, displays his isolation from the very beginning. When he comes into contact with the locals, he exudes a completely dissimilar attitude toward them. As the town’s new teacher, he displays disregard for the value of the local culture and customs, immediately trying to alter them. More importantly, he is shown to be pragmatically engaged in the pursuit of wealth, obscuring his aspiration to take over the bountiful properties of the Van Tassel family by marrying their young and beautiful heiress, Katrina van Tassel. Such a desire is both hostile and clandestine and meets with staunch opposition of the men in the village. The central conflict of the story is the consequence of Crane’s inability to fit into his new environment, and is expressed in the conflict with the rival, Brom Bones, who is also courting Catherine. However, the film adaptation of Irving’s story highlights the reasons for the crisis at the heart of the classic tale which go beyond his failed romance. The film expands on the themes present in the story by revealing that the roots of the crisis are Crane’s sense of superiority, individualism, detachedness and lack of sensitivity to the opinions of people around him. This is contrasted by the introduction of the more sympathetic character of Knickerbocker. Despite being a man of letters, the writer shows himself to be graciously accepting the company of the locals, to their great approval and to the surprise of the innkeeper, who shows herself to be more than ready to keep the busybody regulars from importuning the new client. We learn that the man is just as curious about the others as they are about him. Finding him willing to engage with them in conversation, they immediately react and together they form a small, temporary community appreciating telling tales, drinking beer, and enjoying each other’s company. As such, the tavern serves as the meeting place of the local and the foreign, the known and the Other. The possibility of a conflict is thus averted in the peaceful environment of the tavern. This is important because, as Earle notes, despite their convenience for travelers, the early taverns were above all meant to offer their functionalities to the locals: allowing them to incidentally socialize, show their attitudes and exchange information (1969, p. 3). In the colonial period, taverns, apart from churches constituted the centers of villages for lack of other, more commercial venues which would appear later (Gray, 1996, p. 24). It should come as no surprise that in the very first paragraph of Irving’s story, Knickerbocker stresses the “inveterate propensity of … [men] to linger about in the village tavern” (Irving, 1906, p. 12) which caused the place to be called Tarry Town. Hence, it should be noted that the name of the town itself was influenced by the pacifying character of the place in which locals kept each other’s company, drank and spun tales. That is also where the source of the story’s conflict arises, since its true protagonist, Ichabod Crane, failed to adapt to the local community. Knickerbocker’s attitude, on the other hand, allows him to be immediately recognized as a welcome guest by the locals. As it was mentioned, also the final scene takes place in the tavern. When Knickerbocker enquires the storyteller about Ichabod’s fate, “and no one ever heard any news of the unfortunate Mr. Crane ever again?” the answer is playful: “Well, how could they when he was snatched out of this world by the Headless Horseman, not even leaving a hair behind?” yet also links Ichabod with the sense of sight—no visual sign of him remained in “this world.” (Hewitt et al., 1999). Knickerbocker tellingly—and in keeping with the manner in which he himself learned of the story—uses the verb

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“hear”, which stresses the word of mouth and the sense of hearing rather than the word “see”, which was the sense which dominated Ichabod’s perceptions, distancing and isolating him from others. The people in Tarry Town spend time and drink together, just like Knickerbocker raises his tankard together with the locals. Yet when Ichabod is first seen drinking, he does that on his own, after asking the newly met Brom Van Bones for a loan for the price of his own beer. When Ichabod eats or drinks, it is often stressed that he does so in a selfish manner, without thinking that he should be mindful that the food is also meant for others. Consequently, the conflict of Ichabod and the local community, represented by Brom, results in the expulsion of the former who shows himself to be unable to fit into the new environment. The final scenes of the film reinforce this impression. As was stated before, after Ichabod’s disappearance the townsfolk assemble to decide what to do with his belongings. Since he failed to connect with anyone and did not have anything of value, his possessions raise worries about his magical disappearance. After Mr. Van Ripper’s observation that Ichabod “was took by the headless horseman right out of this world” Brom puts everyone at ease by asserting that the victim was kidnapped “because he was a Yankee.” (Hewitt et al., 1999). This definitively disqualifies Ichabod as a member of the community, since his disappearance serves to highlight their own privileged status. With Katarina finally at his side, Brom leads others to think that their status of locals guarantees their safety from the familiar ghost. Contrarily, Ichabod’s punishment seems to be enacted by local ghost as punishment for pretending to be part of their society. Consequently, his belongings are burned after Mr. Van Ripper gives vent to everyone’s sentiment, “[w]e don’t want him coming back from the pit looking for his pipe, I reckon.” (Hewitt et al., 1999). Yet, despite the role of the Headless Horseman in the resolution of the film’s plot, Ichabod’s utter defeat would not have been possible without his rejection by Katarina which preceded it. Crane’s visual attitude, self-affixation and obliviousness to his surroundings or the views of others eventually alienated Katrina, when she was made aware of the duplicitous nature of her gentleman caller. This happens gradually, and is aided by both her father and Brom Bones, who seem to be engaging in a game, acting separately but with a common purpose of exposing the illusory nature of Ichabod’s authority and social value. Brom especially can be classified as a quintessential example of a literary homo ludens, a trickster with a propensity to constantly engage in games or play. Known for his wild nature and shocking people with his frolics, Brom also resembles a typical homo ludens in that he often “flaunts his indifference towards what is considered to be the norm by the society” (Skweres, 2017, pp. 8, 9). It is stressed in the story that along with his authoritative yet often unruly manner, he was “always ready for either a fight or a frolic.” (Irving, 1906, p. 42). Facing the inability of resolving the problem of his rival with an honorable act of violence (“single combat”), Brom engages his enemy with cunning and sense of humor, able to rely on the second part of his nature—“rustic waggery” and playing “boorish” and “whimsical” practical jokes (Irving, 1906, p. 48). In one instance, Brom’s playful behavior entails modifying the school’s interior by nailing all of the furniture upside down to the house’s ceiling. As a result, he scares and confuses the superstitious teacher, upsetting his seat of

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power on a physical and spiritual basis. In case of the former, the teacher’s place of employment was literally turned topsy-turvy. In the latter case, he immediately saw the threat as supernatural in nature. Another trick played by Brom, the primary homo ludens of the story, was teaching a dog to “sing” loud-enough to match Ichabod’s vocal ability and to ridicule him in the presence of Katrina: “a scoundrel dog whom he taught to whine in the most ludicrous manner, and introduced as a rival of Ichabod’s, to instruct her in psalmody” (Irving, 1906, p. 48). The film not only shows Brom ridiculing Ichabod, but also has him formulate an accusation concerning the latter’s ulterior motives. As he stresses, the dog as a singing master would be satisfied by being paid with scraps from the table, rather than her whole inheritance. By training the dog to whine Brom playfully demonstrated that Ichabod displayed no special qualities, since his distinctive characteristic could be mimicked by an animal. In another scene of the film, Brom mimics Ichabod’s manner of speaking, pointedly emulating his gestures and making a ridiculous impression. This seems to amuse Katrina and is a step towards her realization that Ichabod’s learned manner of speaking may be a mere pretense in itself. The way Brom utilizes play to achieve real-life results places it in the social context and can be described as a pragmatic approach to play, in which far from being oblivious to the results of his actions, the player is well “aware of the reality outside of the game and usually wants to achieve some benefits in real life” (Skweres, 2019, p. 21). Brom also shows that he is very well aware of his rival’s engagement in play of his own—oneiric fantasies which lead Ichabod to believe that he is eventually triumphant. To use that inclination against him, Brom engages in a game of mimicry—first he alters the appearance of the classroom and then disguises himself as the Headless Horseman with the pragmatic purpose of trapping Ichabod inside his oneiric fantasy and to make him believe that the threat was real.3 The second person who also plans to make Katrina aware of Ichabod’s hidden, rapacious and exploitative nature and discourage her from marrying him is her father, Baltus Van Tassel. His role is greatly expanded in the adaptation and he also uses an element of oneiric play to ensnare Ichabod in an oneiric fantasy. The reasons behind his actions are self-explanatory—he immediately realizes that the newcomer is more focused on his wealth than on the wellbeing of his daughter. In the story, Knickerbocker leaves the reader no doubt that Ichabod Crane is primarily interested in the wealth of the Van Tassels, since his thoughts are centered on consumption. [t]he pedagogue’s mouth watered as he looked upon this sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his devouring mind’s eye, he pictured to himself every roasting-pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a comfortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust…. As the enraptured Ichabod fancied all this, and as he rolled his great green eyes over the fat meadow lands, the rich fields of wheat, of rye, of buckwheat, and Indian corn, and the orchards burdened with ruddy fruit, which surrounded the warm tenement of Van Tassel, his heart yearned after the 3

For further examples of pragmatic and oneiric play and the practical applications of such a distinction in film and literary studies see Homo Ludens as a Comic Character in Selected American Films (Skweres, 2017) and The relationship between oneiric and pragmatic play in Mark Twain’s works (Skweres, 2019) respectively.

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A. Skweres damsel who was to inherit these domains, and his imagination expanded with the idea, how they might be readily turned into cash.… Nay, his busy fancy already realized his hopes, and presented to him the blooming Katrina, with a whole family of children, mounted on the top of a wagon loaded with household trumpery, with pots and kettles dangling beneath; and he beheld himself bestriding a pacing mare, with a colt at her heels, setting out for Kentucky, Tennessee,--or the Lord knows where! (Irving, 1906, pp. 35–37)

When Ichabod gazes at the livestock he does not see it as something to be cared for as its prospective, new owner. Instead of providing conditions for them to flourish, the language used in the passage implies that he envisions their fate and pleasure to be part of a tasty meal which he can devour. Accordingly, the reader is guided across the whole spectrum of sensory responses to the heaven that Ichabod constructed in his mind’s eye at the promise of marrying Katrina. After the lengthy description of his culinary appetites, the readers are also given insight into his plans to monetize the products of the Van Tassel family’s labors and move with his wife and children to another state, wherever it might be. Critics have long observed the businesslike nature of the greedy teacher. For instance, Ruland characterizes the story as that of a failed business venture of a “classic Yankee entrepreneur who chases a rich heiress and her prosperous farm” who “loses his fortune” due to his superstition (Ruland, 1992, p. 94). Moroever, according to Eby, the prospect of marriage to would be “disastrous and exploitative” for Katrina, whereby Ichabod is “a foppish outsider from Connecticut” who has to be chased away for her to be “saved” (1987). In the similar vein, the adaptation first shows Ichabod on his way to Tarry Town with his entire possessions in both hands: the books tied in his one hand and a small bundle with his remaining things hanging on a stick (Fig. 5). As part of a visual metaphor, the round bundle often appears on screen next to his head, which can be seen to imply that it is possessions that possessed his mind. The film does not stop at visual metaphors to stress the teacher’s avariciousness. One of such instances is the scene in which he is confronted by Mr. Van Tassel the moment he touches the family’s silver cutlery. While in the short story silver was mentioned only in passing, as the final verse in the litany of numerous displays of wealth in the Van Tassel house, the film devotes considerable attention to it. When Baltus Van Tassel sees Ichabod with the silverware in his hands, he politely suggests that the event looks like an act of intended theft, saying “There are 13 of them spoons in there, if memory serves.” Only then does Ichabod take note of his host and turns to him, explaining his actions: “Oh! Well, I-I-I was… I was just admiring the quality of the workmanship….” (Hewitt et al., 1999). In this case, as usual, Ichabod uses his eloquence to get out of a troublesome situation. He attempts to explain the awkward position caused by his inquisitiveness and perhaps his greedy anticipation of the wealth he would soon acquire through marriage. This fails as some of the silver spoons fall to the ground, surprising Mr. Van Tassel. Ichabod is startled and closes his eyes as if he was trying to be oblivious to what just happened. The scene once again stresses his visual thinking—if he closes his eyes, the problem disappears. Accordingly, he recomposes himself, opens his eyes and continues to stare at Mr. Van Tassel, enquiring him as if nothing had happened: “Dutch, no doubt?” At this

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Fig. 5 The isolation of Ichabod is apparent during the initial sequence of the film, when he is heading for Tarry Town. The small bundle of his possessions is especially pronounced, its size and shape resembling the character’s head

point more spoons fall to the floor leading to a comical effect. As Ichabod finally reaches down to pick up the spoons, Mr. Van Tassel explains calmly, while putting his garb in order. English, as a matter of fact. Had them from the box of a redcoat officer in a skirmish about half a mile from this house. The summer of ’74. He would’ve done better to carry a second musket instead of a tea service. But that was his misfortune and, uh, my providence. (Hewitt et al., 1999)

The scene reasserts Mr. Van Tassel’s right to the property he acquired not only through work as a farmer, but also in battle, during the revolutionary war with Great Britain. It also serves to reveal his status of a war veteran and a patriot, which he discloses without bragging. Finally, Baltus Van Tassel is instrumental in revealing Ichabod’s duplicitousness to his daughter. He arranges for Katrina to listen in on their conversation while she remains unseen by the two-faced teacher. When she learns that the latter keeps his designs from her while openly divulging them to her father, she finally realizes that he is a hypocrite and a liar. The event can be seen as a game arranged by Balthus Van Tassel in which he created proper conditions for Ichabod Crane to engage in a pragmatic flight of fancy, while ensuring that they have an audience who would witness the pragmaticism which characterizes his thought process. Similarly to Brom, Katrina’s attitude was oneiric and not materialistically set on achievement of material goods, as in the case of Ichabod. Consequently, the illusion of his oneiric like-mindedness is broken and the suitor is categorically rejected.

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To conclude, the discussed adaptation managed to successfully translate the classic story to screen and imbue it with new meanings. More than a mere retelling, it serves as the short story’s interpretation. The crisis was brought about by the incompatibility of natures of the local burghers and the individualistic Ichabod, whose “interiorization of the technology of the phonetic alphabet” allowed him to remain noninvolved in the culture still more connected with nature. Moreover, the chapter considered the ways in which the film can be seen to capture the metaphors of visually- and aurallyguided thinking which stem from the conflict between Ichabod, the product of print culture, and the environment still under the influence of what McLuhan described as the “magical world of the ear,” the complexity of which Ichabod fails to notice or acknowledge. As both the short story and the film demonstrate, the proud teacher would pay dearly for his mistake. Even though he was representative of the culture of print that would eventually dominate Sleepy Hollow, the inhabitants of the small community temporarily triumphed by playing games with him to reveal the true nature of the twofaced and greedy outsider. In the story, the ultimate expression of this ludic behavior was Brom Bones’ masquerade as the Headless Horseman. In the discussed film adaptation, the threat of the specter is real. However, the spirit of playfulness permeating Irving’s story is retained and conveyed by other means. Before he even has a chance to meet the Headless Horseman in a moment of sheer horror signifying his just punishment, Ichabod is defeated by Brom Bones and Baltus Van Tassel in more comical scenes. Both men seem to silently strive toward the same goal, playing pragmatic games at Ichabod’s expense in order to interrupt his oneiric fantasies and to get rid of the intruder who does not know how to “play along” with other inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow.

References Earle, A. M. (1969). Stage-coach and tavern days. B. Blom. Eby, C. D. (1987). Dandy versus squatter: An earlier round. The Southern Literary Journal, 20(1), 33. Gray, S. E. (1996). The Yankee West: Community life on the Michigan frontier. University of North Carolina Press. Grey, R. (2004). A history of American literature. Blackwell Publishing. Hewitt, S., Prupas, M., Rohrbach, D., & Gang, P. (1999). The legend of Sleepy Hollow [Film]. Hallmark/Artisan. Irving, W. (1906). The legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Bobbs-Merrill Company. McLuhan, M. (2017). Understanding media. Critical edition: The extensions of man: Understanding media—The extensions of man. MIT Press. McLuhan, M. (2011). The Gutenberg Galaxy: The making of typographic man. University of Toronto Press. Ruland, R. (1992). From Puritanism to Postmodernism. Penguin Books. Skweres, A. (2017). Homo ludens as a comic character in selected American films. Springer. Skweres, A. (2019). The relationship between oneiric and pragmatic play in Mark Twain’s works. Springer. Smith, G. (2001). Supernatural ambiguity and possibility in Irving’s “The legend of Sleepy Hollow”. The Midwest Quarterly, 42(2).

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Thompson, T. W. (2013). Lively but complicated: English hegemony in “The legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The Midwest Quarterly, 54(2), 136. Webster, N. (1793). The American Spelling Book: Containing an Easy Standard of Pronunciation, Being the First Part of a Grammatical Institute of the English Language. Thomas & Andrews. Welsh, J. M. (2007). Sucking Dracula: Mythic biography into fiction into film, or why Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula is not really Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Wallachia’s Dracula. In J. M. Welsh & P. Lev (Eds.), The literature/film reader. Issues of adaptation. The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Artur Skweres, D.Litt., Associate Professor at the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna´n, Poland. He has participated in numerous international conferences and has received Prize of the Rector of Adam Mickiewicz University in 2011 and 2020. His academic interests include English and American literature, media ecology, film adaptations, and film in foreign language teaching. His recent publications include the monographs The relationship between oneiric and pragmatic play in Mark Twain’s works (Poznan: Adam Mickiewicz University Press, 2019) and McLuhan’s Galaxies: Science Fiction Film Aesthetics in Light of Marshall McLuhan’s Thought (2019) published by Springer as a part of Second Language Learning and Teaching. Issues in Literature and Culture series edited by Miroslaw Pawlak.

The Clash of Divergent Political Strategies, Moral Categories and Literary Conventions in the Early Fifteenth Century Poetry: Mum and the Sothsegger as a Reflection of the Tensions Within the Crisis-Ridden Late Medieval Society Joanna Bukowska Abstract The long-lasting implications of a series of natural calamities, social upheavals, and political turnovers, which occurred in the fourteenth century, were still acutely felt at the beginning of the following century. An early fifteenth-century poem, Mum and the Sothsegger, reflects the social tensions and conflicting discourses on poverty, which operated in the late medieval crisis-ridden society. The poem presents the critique of both the abuse of the poor and the deceitful discourse of those in power as the elements of the instruction on statecraft. The appeal to the ruling class to redress the grievances of the impoverished is accompanied in Mum and the Sothsegger by the representation of the oppressed as potential rebels, whose resentment may pose a dangerous threat to public order, and whose actions, therefore, need to be restrained, so that they would not disrupt the traditional hierarchy of the tripartite society. The ambiguity characterizing in the poem both the depiction of the destitute and the narrator’s arguments supporting the alleviation of their suffering might be interpreted as a reflection of the high level of social anxiety generated by the series of crises that occurred in the fourteenth century. Keywords Mum and the Sothsegger · Late medieval crises · The Black Death · The Peasants’ Revolt · Social tensions · The early fifteenth-century poetry · Mirrors for princes · Truth · Poverty · Contradictory discourses

1 The Fourteenth Century as the Age of Crisis Mum and the Sothsegger, an early fifteenth-century anonymous poem, which belongs to the Piers Plowman tradition, brings into focus social tensions, exacerbated by the disastrous events, which befell England in the fourteenth century. In Distant mirror. J. Bukowska (B) Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n, Pozna´n, Poland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_3

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The calamitous fourteenth century, Tuchman (1978, p. xiii) describes this period as affected by: “so many great perils and adversities” … that its disorders cannot be traced to any of one cause; they were the hoof prints of more than the four horsemen of St. John’s vision, which had now become seven – plague, war, taxes, brigandage, bad government, insurrection and schism in the Church. (Tuchman, 1978, p. xiii)

Tuchman’s study does not only demonstrate the tremendous impact each of these misfortunes, and especially the Black Death, had on the late medieval society, but it also makes evident the cataclysmic effect of their accumulation within a single century. Many literary critics and historians also refer to this period as the age of crisis or an arena of multiple crises: social, political, and economical. The indiscriminate application of this term to the analyses of the Late Middle Ages is criticized by Kaminsky (2000), who argues that it is pointless to speak about a global decline or a general crisis of the Late Middle Ages or a crisis of the whole sociocultural order. The historian attributes the frequency with which the term crisis appears in the studies concerning the late medieval period to the influence of, what he calls, “the waning model,” created by Huizinga in his seminal work, The waning of the Middle Ages. Kaminsky (2000, p. 97) points out that the changes, which took place at the end of the Middle Ages did not engender an entirely new mode of living and cannot, therefore, be classified as a crisis, defined by Baron (as cited in Kaminsky, 2000, p. 91) as “a turning point in the growth of an organism, institution, or people, threatened by some weakness or disease, but finally regaining health and strength by successful resistance or adaptation to a vital challenge”. In Kaminsky’s opinion, even the Black Death, which reduced Europe’s population by twenty five million, consuming one-third of the initial eighty million within the first few years from its onset in 1347/48, lacked the essential elements of a crisis, since it was not followed by any immediate socioeconomic regression. Although Kaminsky (2000, pp. 112– 15) admits that the plague constituted “an indisputably real, drastic, profound, and lasting contraction in the economic sphere and indeed many other”, he also suggests that its long-term effects might allow one to perceive it as an apparent disaster that actually constituted a moment of progressive development. Kaminsky’s approach does not, however, take into consideration the exacerbation of social tensions that started mounting in the post-plague period and eventually erupted in England in the form of the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 or the political turmoil of the final decades of the fourteenth century and the resulting instabilities. Therefore, even if Kaminsky might be right about the fact that there was no general malaise and that the claims concerning the occurence of the all-encompassing crisis of the Late Middle Ages might be ideologically determined, his long-term perspective prevents him from seeing the calamities that befell the late medieval world as an actual series of crises affecting, if not the whole medieval world, than at least its various domains. The discussion of late medieval crises still persists in the contemporary research concerning the Middle Ages, although their causes and effects are considered today as far more complex and less universal than it was originally assumed, for example, by

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Brenner or Postan, whose theories dominated the twentieth-century scholarly debate. Brenner’s analysis, as described by Drendel (2015), focused primarily on the class struggle as a triggering factor of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. Postan developed the Malthusian argument postulating that the pre-plague overpopulation reached the ceiling of unsustainability, which, in turn, generated the later dramatic consequences. These two projects are thoroughly revised by the current research focusing on a series of late medieval crises. This new approach might be exemplified by such studies as these by Kitsikopoulos (2012), Brooke (2014), and Drendel (2015). A new light is shed on this discussion especially by Brooke (2014, p. 391), who, drawing on the recent findings of climate science, points out the resilience of pre-modern societies to endogenous pressures, and their simultaneous vulnerability to exogenous shocks, such as the onset of the Little Ice Age, which occurred in the fourteenth century. The tremendous impact this dramatic climate change had on the lives of the late medieval people is presented in this study as the major cause of the redefinition of the old order. As Brooke (2014, p. 389) demonstrates, it was responsible not only for the shortening of the crop season and, consequently, for the Great Famine between 1315 and 1322 but, as the contemporary scientific research suggests, it might have also triggered the outbreak of the Great Plague. As made evident by Brooke (2014, p. 380), “The crisis was the result of severe natural disasters, not the inner dynamic of the demographic or economic systems. This is not to say, however, that the continuing shocks to these systems did not have long term consequences…”. The multiplicity of various approaches to the fourteenth-century crises exposes the fact that a crisis as a concept eludes easy delineation or categorization. The historical research concerning the dramatic moments has, therefore, to be complemented by the analyses of literary texts, which reflect the cultural implications of the turbulent times. The study of these texts may not only facilitate the comprehension of the medieval adversities but also the conceptualization of the challenges that we face in our own contemporary world. The parallels between the late medieval disasters and the twentieth-century traumas were indicated by Tuchman (1978, p. xiii), who argued that “it is reassuring to know that the human species has lived through worse before.” The assumption that the exploration of disastrous historical phenomena might shed some light on the interpretation of modern-day catastrophes is also presented by Meiner and Veel (2012, p. 2), who indicate that apart from its historical reality, each crisis has a cultural life, resulting from the intricate connections between the actual events and their processing. The cultural response to any crisis at hand draws on the reservoir of metaphorical and narrative resources provided by the images of earlier calamities. As stated by Meiner and Veel (2012, p. 2): At the same time as the anomaly of catastrophes and crises turns habits and expectations upside down and eludes established patterns of representations, every new disaster or crisis also depends on and is culturally constituted by the experiences and cultural processing of previous events in that it rearticulates the ideas, forms, and fantasies related to catastrophic and critical situations which reverberate in our cultural imagination.

Nuning (2012, p. 59) expands this view, arguing that crises “can …be conceptualised as resulting from a signifying practice, from the use of symbolic forms.”

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The narrative patterns and figurative language, which circulate in culture and are used to represent dramatic situations, help people to comprehend such moments and the emotions they generate. The mechanisms of cultural memory are, consequently, essential for the interpretation of events, which might seem incomprehensible at the time of their occurrence. Our attitudes to the challenging moments of history are, therefore, inevitably permeated and influenced by the imaginary representations of past disasters. Viewed from that perspective, the study of the cultural implications of the late medieval crises and their imprint on the literature of this period remains relevant to the contemporary debate concerning the crises the world faces today.

2 Late Medieval Poverty Controversies The dramatic phenomena that occurred in the fourteenth century, referred to also, as stated above, as a series of late medieval crises, had an impact on the stability of the tradition-sanctioned hierarchy, since they produced new tensions and further complicated the cultural responses to poverty in the late medieval society. As claimed by Aers (1988, p. 21), a remarkable transformation of the medieval attitudes concerning the poor in the post-plague period, might be perceived as a reflection of the changing mentalities, which developed in response to the demographic collapse and socioeconomic changes generated by the Black Death, and its subsequent outbursts in the second half of the fourteenth century. The scale of poverty also changed at that time. As Dyer (2012, p. 42) indicates, impoverishment affected the highest numbers of people with no land and with small holdings between 1290 and 1342, when the effects of poorly reworded labor were cyclically exacerbated by unfavorable weather, disease, warfare, and taxes. The first half of the fourteenth century also witnessed the prevalence of older Christian attitudes concerning the impoverished, whose dispossessed existence, patient endurance and the refusal to complain were recognized as the reflection of Christ’s virtues. Not only were the destitute perceived as predisposed for salvation, but their existence was also considered an occasion for the rich to gain redemption through “the penance of almsgiving” (Aers, 1988, p. 21–23), encouraged by such works as Richard Maidstone’s Protectorium Pauperis (1380) or Dives and Pauper (c. 1405). In contrast to the voices promoting unconditional charity, in the middle of the century there appeared “fearful and hostile attitudes to the poor as agents of potential change and disruption” (Aers, 1988, p. 25). They were stimulated, as Aers (1988, p. 25) argues, by “the historical changes in the European societies, economies, and populations which had altered the composition and the numbers of the poor.” In England, the plague reduced the population from 5–6 million in the early fourteenth century to 2–3 million in 1500, and it considerably diminished the number of paupers in the overall population (Dyer, 2012, p. 42). The demographic breakdown after 1348 “strengthened the bargaining position of those who sold their labour-power” and “increased the discontent of those forced to serve their lords” (Aers, 1988, pp. 26– 27), which caused tremendous anxiety of the nobility, afraid to lose their social and

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economic control (Aers, 1988, p. 29). Labor shortages and the rising labor costs triggered the outrage of the nobility and gentry, who responded to the claims of the laborers with labor legislation and vagrancy petitions, seeking to curtail the mobility of workers and to keep the wages at the pre-plague level. To excuse the punitive measures and the tools of coercion introduced in these acts, they demonized mobile workers as vagrants, idle beggars, and thieves (Aers, 1988, pp. 26–30). The rhetoric concerning the poor changed with the growth of social tensions. The beggars started to be looked upon as idlers and wasters and were criticized for “what was seen as a willful withdrawal from economy and slothful reliance on others” (Rubin, as cited in Aers, 1988, p. 34). The Church also modified its attitude to poverty, gradually moving away from its idealization as a form of spiritual perfection. The mounting critique of the fraternal orders undermined the legitimacy of voluntary poverty, mendicancy became the object of the internal struggle within the Church, and the Franciscan notion of the renunciation of material goods was declared irrelevant as a spiritual ideal by Pope John XXII (Aers, 1988, pp. 35–36). Crassons (2010, p. 7) sums up this transition in the following way: As antifraternal arguments fused with objections to the rising power and mobility of lay workers, poverty and mendicancy came to be described more readily as signs of sinfulness than as hallmarks of Christian sanctity. With the enactment of labor laws that criminalized able-bodied begging and indiscriminate charity, one can see the development of powerful social imagery in fourteenth-century England. Constituting what critics have termed a “shift in values” or “newer ethos,” labor became a sign of virtue while poverty emerged as a symptom of idleness and other sins.

The promotion of discriminate or judgmental charity in antifraternal writing and labor ordinances marked the emergence of the new Christian ethos, evolving from the middle of the fourteenth century onwards. The glorification of the poor was superseded by the prioritization of the disciplined work aimed at the production of material goods. The new hardened attitudes towards paupers appeared at the time when different forms of poverty, such as hereditary poverty in the families affected by disease and disability, or the deprivation of too old and too young to work, increased due to the separation of family units as a result of migration in search of vacant holdings (Dyer, 2012, p. 44). As Crassons points out (2010, p. 11), the new restricted notion of poverty “obscured other categories of need,” such as the impoverishment of the working poor, who were affected by “changes in the life cycle, unforeseen calamities, and gender inequality.” The impossibility of pinning down the precise definition of poverty and the equivocality of its social perception was also commented upon by Mollat (1986, p. 2), who observes that: “Poverty was a relative matter, and the use of the same words to cover a multitude of cases concealed a good deal of ambiguity. One person was always more or less poor than the other.” Since the concept of discriminate charity is necessarily based on judgment, Crassons (2010, p. 9) suggests that poverty should be considered “as an issue fraught with the epistemological and ethical complexity, because it demands acts of interpretation that bear moral and material consequences for poor and rich alike.” Recognizing poverty not only as an economic and historical issue

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but also a concept connected inescapably with “the concerns about representation”, Crassons (2010, p. 5) is adamant about the crucial role of late medieval literature in the elucidation of the complex conceptual nature of poverty as much as in its representation as “a site of historical and cultural crisis in late medieval England.” The incongruent voices concerning poverty, which appeared in late medieval texts, demonstrate the fact that its perception was determined by the whole plethora of late medieval perils. The divergent attitudes towards the poor were shaped by the new social trends arising in the aftermath of the Black Death as much as by the gradual progress towards a market-oriented economy, the tensions within the Church concerning mendicancy, and the political struggle accompanying the deposition of Richard II.

3 Conflicting Views on Poverty and the Ambiguous Defense the Poor in Mum and the Sothsegger Diverse attitudes to poverty also underline the early fifteenth-century poem, Mum and the Sothsegger, which encourages the administration of charity to the poor but at the same time reasserts their subordinate position to other estates and criticizes their desire for social mobility. As Ellis points out (2005, p. 26), late medieval thought was still orthodox and the insistence on the fact that each member of the society should “keep to the estate to which God called him” stemmed from the assumption that “human society should take the form of a hierarchy whose rightful ordering should benefit all of its members, rich and poor alike” (2005, p. 26). The rich are, thus, urged to take pity on the disadvantaged for the sake of preventing any social unrest, which the neglected and abused poor might inspire. The concern for the paupers is, thus, presented in Mum and the Sothsegger, not only as a Christian duty but also, and perhaps primarily, as an element of statecraft. The king, whom the narrator addresses in the opening lines of the poem, is advised to show compassion to the poor: “For the love of Hym that your life weldeth…” (MS, 23),1 as well as “for his owen profit” (MS, 137). Royal charity is presented as both a Christian virtue and a profitable political strategy, which could guarantee the stability of the kingdom. The king should not allow the rich to deplete the resources of the crown and should not let his administrators impose the burden of the country’s politics on the shoulders of the poor taxpayers, because, when exploited and abused beyond endurance, the commons may “… come yn and caste up the halter” (MS, 4), that is they may cast off all mechanisms of social control which prevent them from openly expressing their frustration. The narrator repeatedly points out that the poor endure their mistreatment but their anger gradually keeps welling up, Til fortune for foolie falle atte laste, And al the world wondre on thaire wilde deedes (MS, 127, 131–132). 1

All quotation from Mum and the Sothsegger come from Dean (2000).

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The commons are, thus, presented as a potentially volatile, disruptive social force, whose negative emotions should be kept in check. The stereotypical description of the lowest estate as foolish and wild additionally discredits any action which the oppressed could take. Since one of the royal tasks is to maintain peace and order, it should also be in the king’s interest to take care of the disadvantaged and properly address their grievances. This purpose is, however, hindered, as the Sothsegger suggests in the poem, by the king’s milieu and his deceitful counselors.2 But I dreed me sore, so me God helpe, Leste covetise of cunseil that knoweth not hymself (Of sum and of certayn, I seye not of alle) That of profitable pourpos putteth the king ofte, There his witte and his wil wolde wirche to the beste … (MS, 227–231).

The king does not have an adviser who could “telle hym the texte, and touche not the glose” (MS, 141). A Sothsegger is expelled from the great halls and hushed down by Mum, representing hypocrisy, misleading counsel and harmful reticence. The suppression of the Sothsegger by Mum reflects the late medieval crisis of truth, whose detailed analysis is presented by Green (2002), and which emerged, as Alford (1988, p. 34) suggests, “at the very moment when the passing of the old [feudal] order was felt most keenly.” The debate between Mum and the Sothsegger epitomizes, therefore, the unequal struggle between those at the top and at the bottom of the medieval social hierarchy, and the abuse by the rich of both the poor and truth. Mum’s deviant speech boosts his career at the court, where he shoulders with the richest, while the Sothsegger’s allegiance to truth results in his marginalization, impoverishment and inability to find employment: Hit is a Sothesigger that seilde is yseye To be cherisshid of chief in chambre or in halle… There is no clerc with the king that clothid hym ones, But clothid hym at Cristmasse and al the yere after (MS, 38–45).

The Sothsegger’s worn-out garments suggest that he receives no gratitude for his honesty. In contrast to the poor Sothsegger, Mum leads his comfortable and opulent life among sovereigns and nobility: I am Mum thy maister, “cothe he,” in alle maniere places That sittith with souverayns and servyd with greete. Thaire wille ne thaire wordes I withseye never, But folowe thaym in thaire folie and fare muche the better… (MS, 243–246). 2

The theme of the misleading guidance of the king’s counsellors features prominently in another early fifteenth century poem, Richard the Redeless. I discussed the implications of the misrepresentation of truth in the context of Richard II’s critique in my earlier paper: “The preoccupation with the abuse of truth in Richard the Redeless and Thomas Usk’s Testament of love”, published in Bilynsky (2014).

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Mum’s unscrupulous pursuit of profit is repeatedly condemned by the Sothsegger, who berates him for his self-interested attitude: “Thus me semeth that thou serves thyself and no man ells (MS, 270).” Mum’s insidious strategies of self-advancement may also be interpreted as a reflection of the corruption of public discourse in late fourteenth-century England. Dodd (2014, pp. 543–545) perceives this negative tendency as both a part of the long-term cultural response to the crisis of royal authority, and the immediate result of the infamous policies of Richard II and his court. Since Mum and the Sothsegger is a poem addressed to Henry IV, it seems very probable that the debate between the eponymous characters might be seen as presenting the contrast between social attitudes promoted by both kings, and as an indirect commentary on the political crisis, which marked Richard II’s reign. Mum and the Sothsegger’s dispute might be, thus, interpreted, as Ferster (1996, p. 36) indicates in passing, as “part of the camouflage for the abuses the poem does reveal.” Alongside with the probable political edge of the representation of Mum’s critique, the poem also exposes its moral and social aspects. Overwhelmed with Mum’s dominance among the richest, and his apparent victory over the Sothsegger during their debate, the narrator decides to embark on a quest, aimed at determining the allegiance of other social groups to either of the debaters. While passing from one community to another, he notices both their preference for Mum and their negligence or deception of the poor. The itinerary of the late medieval society begins at universities and monasteries. Although the narrator’s critique of friars includes typical objections found in the antifraternal literature, such as their self-indulgent lifestyle, contrasted with their hypocritical adoption of poor appearance, he also observes that they will do little to ease the suffering of other people: Thees good Godis men gadren al to thaym And kepen hit to thaire owen croppe clene fro other. For though a frere be fatt and have a ful coffre Of gold and of good, thou getys but a lite Forto bete thy bale, though thou begge ever (MS, 449–453).

The poor are not only neglected but also beguiled by the friars, who are mostly concerned about the control they wield over the rich and the profits they can gain while shouldering with them: And mulden up the matiere to make thaym fatte, And gouvernen the grete and guilen the poure (MS, 464–465).

The mishandling of the poor is, thus, emblematic of the friars’ corruption. The walls of monasteries also fail to provide the poor with the shelter. Similarly to friars, the monks are accused in the poem of caring too much about their own profit and comfort: Thay koveiten no comers but yf thay cunne helpe Forto amende thaire mynstre and to maynteyne thaire rente, Or in worke or in worde waite thaire profit,

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Or elles entreth he not til thay have ysopid (MS, 546–549).

Consequently, contrary to the design of their founders, monasteries remain closed to the poor: For though the place were ypighte for poure men sake And eeke funded, therefore, yit faillen thay ofte That thay doon not eche day do beste of alle. For the fundacions of the fundours ment Was groundid for Godis men, though hit grete serve (MS, 541–545).

Being poor, the Sothsegger would not be admitted there: But for I was a meen man I might not entre; (MS, 540). Thus thaire portier for my povreté putt me thens, And to wandry where I wolde withoute the gates (MS, 550–551).

Driven away from the monastic gates, the Sothsegger, as the representative of the medieval paupers, experiences exclusion and marginalization. The hopelessness of his condition seems to be sealed by the self-centeredness and the preference for self-advancement that he observes among all privileged groups of the medieval society. The issue of the negligence of the poor by ecclesiastics returns again in a later part of the poem, when the narrator apparently discovers a roll book concerning parsons and priests, who refrain from donations for the sake of the poor and instead spend their money either for the benefit of the rich or their own. There is a rolle of religion, how thay thaire rentz hadde Forto parte with the poure a parcelle otherwhile, But thay been rotid in a rewe to refresshe greete, To maynteyne thayre manhode, and matieres thay have to doo For pleding and for pourchas, to pasture thaym the swetter, So poure thay been and penylees sith the pestilence tyme (MS, 1364–1369).

This insufficient assistance of the clergy, responsible in the medieval society for charity is blamed for the penury of the poor who are presented as unable to recover from the crisis caused by the Great Plague. The indication that the pestilence was a turning point of the fourteenth century and that it had disastrous consequences for the poorest sections of the medieval English society seems to be in line with those scholarly analyses which indicate that the relative improvement of the position of the peasants who survived the plague was far from being universal and that it was additionally reduced by the labor legislation, which kept the wages at the preplague level. The distress of the laborers, living at the level of bare sustenance, and of the penniless peasants, exploited by the gentry, is communicated, as Sturges (2016, pp. 19–20) points out, by some of the early fifteenth-century characters in the Wakefield Master’s plays. Written for a manorial audience, these plays also provide the record of the tensions between the poor, struggling to improve their situation,

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and their liveried employers, perceiving such attempts made by the impoverished as foolish, criminal and sinful. As these texts suggest, despite a relative increase in the standards of living, the need for charity was at the beginning of the fifteenth century still acute and the poor were not only mistreated but also misrepresented. If the distribution of charity appears in Mum and the Sothsegger to be particularly affected by the corruption of the clergy, the lay society is also taken to account for its failure to assist the impoverished. Bondmen, freemen, landowners, craftsmen, burgesses, knights, barons, having forsaken their allegiance to truth, also remain loyal to Mum and serve their own interest. The needs of the impoverished are ignored because Mum dominates the public domain, and is responsible, as the narrator argues, “For of al the mischief and myssereule that in the royaulme groweth” (MS, 1115). When the grievances of the poor are not properly redressed, they turn into untreated wounds that start festering. The narrator of Mum and the Sothsegger reiterates, therefore, his warning communicated at the beginning of the poem, and suggests again that if the abuse of the weakest does not cease, the anger of the commons may erupt with vengeance and they might “rise agayne regalie and the royaulme trouble” (MS, 1128). Echoing the events of the Peasants’ Revolt, which took place in 1381, these cautionary words expose the mistreatment of the impoverished and, at the same time, demonize their rebellious potential. The despair of the poor is shown in Mum and the Sothsegger to be aggravated by their inability to obtain justice even at the courts of law. The legal domain is represented in the poem as particularly liable to corruption: And in al the kingis court there coiphes been and other Mum is maister there more thenne men wenen, For sum of tho segges wolle siche sidewayes, Whenne thay witen wel ynow where the hare walketh. Thay leden men the long waye and love-dayes breken And maken moppes wel myry with thaire madde tales, Forto sowe silver seede, and solve ere thay singe, To have ynne thaire harveste while the hete dureth (MS, 1142–1149).

The lawyers are presented as officials, who are easily bribed. They are accused of unnecessarily prolonging the court cases and conducting the court proceedings to the detriment of the poor. This charge against lawyers and squires is reiterated, when having completed his itinerary, the narrator uncovers a scroll, criticizing squires for playing down the offences of those in power who are accused of having robbed the poor and for thwarting the lawsuits initiated by people of low social ranks: There is a scrowe for squyers that asquare walken Whenne a tale is ytolde, yf hit touche greete That piled han poure men of penys and of goodes. Thay wol neghen no neer but yf thay noye thenke And alleigge for the lord and lawe doune bere, Leste soulde and thaire service cesse al at ones,

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Thus poure men pleyntz been pledid ful ofte, For reasonis retenue moste reste nedis There robes rehercyn the rightz of the parties (MS, 1489–1497).

Mum once again is shown in this fragment to conspire against the poor, because the judges in the courts of law protect their own position and the nobles’ interests. As also suggested below, it is not possible for the poor man to win a court suit against a wealthier opponent: Hit wol not gayne a goky a grete man forto plede, For lawe lieth muche in lordship sith loyauté was exiled, And poure men pleyntes penylees abateth (MS, 1582–1584).

The poor are always at a disadvantage as plaintiffs suing the nobles, since the influence of the lords on the judges, and not justice, determines the verdict. The narrator’s commentary concerning the flawed operation of the medieval courts of law contains, however, also apparent contradictions. One of the remedies that he proposes for endless legal disputes is that plaintiffs of all estates should be charged for submitting their pleas to the courts, even if, as he admits in passing, “lordz and laborers been not like in costs” (MS, 1606), that is the lords and laborers differ with respect to how much they can spend. But shuld thay picche and paye at eche pleynte-is ende And compte alle the costz of men of court and elles, And taske al the trespas, as trouthe wolde and reason, Thay wolde cesse sum tyme for sheding of thaire silver.

The argument concerning the usefulness of the introduction of court fees in the limitation of the number of unnecessary cases seems to be developed specifically in response to the narrator’s apparent discovery of a book, containing a report about the legal cases: “Whenne thay griefen greete, though the guilte be lite” (MS, 1589), that is the cases, in which the laborers’ charges against their superiors are false or at least unsubstantiated. The narrator’s own prejudice against the poor seems to constitute a contradiction to his earlier critique of the discriminatory treatment of the poor at the courts of law and it might be interpreted as the evidence of the rigidity of social divisions, which were still at that time perceived as impervious. His opposing views appear to be encompassed by the narrator’s policy of providing the instruction on: “How the greete of this ground been ygouverned” (MS, 1336–1337). The narrator calls, therefore, for the honesty of the rich, who should treat the poor with justice, and at the same time, he reaffirms the social hierarchy and remains critical of any initiative taken by the poor themselves. The dependence of the fate of the poor on the righteousness of the powerful is also pointed out in the narrator’s critique of the king’s counselors and the members of his retinue, who deplete the royal income, which in turn results in higher taxes imposed on laborers. It is essential, as the narrator ascertains, for both the knights and the commons, that the king has in his hands all the royal estates without any infringements.

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J. Bukowska Oure wynnyng and worship wol be the lasse With knight and with comune til the king have Alle hoole in his hande that he have oughte (MS, 1680–1682).

It is suggested by the narrator that the commons will not have to bear the burden of heavy taxes as long as the powerful do not encroach on the king’s property. The greed of the rich and powerful is further criticized in another scroll discovered by the narrator, in which the effectiveness of medieval charity is also shown as dependent on the honesty of the nobility. The donations for the poor made by many people of great wealth in their death-bed wills are shown as insufficient and often mismanaged. Their belated character mars also their redeeming grace: To But thenne he shapeth for the soule whenne the sunne is doune, But while the day durid he delte but a lite; (MS, 1693–1694).

When people donate their money to hospitals and the poor when they face death, they can never be sure that their resources will actually reach the needy, since a part of their endowment will cover the fees deducted from it for its distribution, and another part might be misappropriated by the executors of their will. Though executours afterwarde execute hit never… And yit thay seyen for thaymsilf right a subtile reason: “Why shuld we dele for the dede? He dide not while he mighte. He made us in his mynde among alle his frendes To be his trewe attourneys and treete for his debtes, For so that thay have halfendele, thay mowe thaym holde content (MS, 1705–1711).

If the donations are not to be, thus, misspent, but if they are to be helpful to the poor and beneficial in the spiritual sense to the donors, the rich should make them during their own life rather than through their wills. As indicated by Dyer (2012, p. 48), the common medieval practice of the distribution of pennies to paupers attending funerals could not sufficiently reduce their penury. Although local elites were made responsible for the poverty relief, their duties were not controlled or enforced by the state, and the long term help was less frequent than occasional donations, which could not effectively change the fate of the poorest. Even if the need for the alleviation of the suffering of the impoverished is acknowledged in Mum and the Sothsegger, the poem does not in any way imply that their status is to be changed but instead reinforces the traditional hierarchical structure of the society. The poor require the guidance and protection of the ruling classes, but, as indicated in the narrator’s dream about bees and the beekeeper, they are at the same time to be thoroughly controlled by their social superiors. By claiming that the busy bees, occupied with their hard work, need principals to govern them and correct their faults, the narrator reiterates, what Sturges (2016, p. 25) called, the stereotypical representation of peasant’s foolishness. And eche a place hath a principal that peesith al his quarter, That reuleth thaym to reste and rise whenne hit nedith,

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And alle the principallz to the prince ful prest thay been at nede, To rere thaire retenue to righte alle the fautes; (MS, 1012–1015).

The bees also need protection from vicious drones that: … in thaire wide wombes thay wol hide more Thenne twenty bees, and travaillen not no tyme of the day But gaderyn al to the gutte and growen grete and fatte And fillen thaire bagges bredeful of that the bees wyrchen (MS, 1044–47).

The beekeeper’s essential task is to destroy the parasitic drones that steal the honey gathered by the bees, which are too preoccupied with their hard work to heed the threat of the drones’ surreptitious attacks. The symbolic meaning of the drones is not entirely clear, but taking the current discussions concerning the poor into consideration, they may be seen as representing any of the criticized groups accused of depleting the limited resources of the impoverished. They may embody the mendicant friars, abusing the idea of voluntary poverty, the parsons, priests and will executors mismanaging charity, or even those penniless laborers, who were destitute but at the same time able-bodied and capable of working, and, consequently, were disqualified as beneficiaries of any help by the idea of discriminate charity and accused of laziness and criminal intentions. As pointed out by Dyer (2012, p. 44), the critique of beggars capable of working escalated in the second part of the fourteenth century, when they started to be perceived as sinners, or even as criminals, encroaching on the gift of charity. Dissention is exposed in this poem as a serious threat to any kingdom. The example of the Mongolian emperor, Genghis, is evoked by the narrator to illustrate a point, that concord, loyalty, and obedience might even be enforced by hard and cruel laws. The commons are, thus, specifically warned against any form of rebellious behavior, which is repeatedly depicted throughout the poem as a primary threat to the traditional social hierarchy perceived as a guarantee of peace and order.

4 Conclusion Mum and the Sothsegger, an early fifteenth-century mirror for princes, represents late medieval allegorical poetry providing instruction on statecraft at the time of the social and political turmoil. The poem encapsulates the long term consequences of the dramatic events which occurred in the fourteenth century such as the Little Ice Age, the Great Famine, the Great Plague, or the Peasants’ Revolt, and the political chaos characterizing the reign of Richard II and his deposition from power. Placed against the background of the still simmering tensions, the poem emphasizes the role of the new king, Henry IV, in the maintenance of peace and order. The major threat that the king is advised to forestall is posed by the potential rebellion of the peasants, who are represented as having been most severely affected by the earlier natural, social and political catastrophes, emboldened by the economic changes generated by these

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shocks and embittered by the continuing general disregard for their complaints. Mum and the Sothsegger presents the need for the redressing of all acts of social injustice not only as a Christian duty but also as an effective political strategy, aimed at the prevention of any social unrest. The role of the nobility in addressing the grievances of the weakest becomes particularly essential, since the poor are not expected to question the conduct of their superiors. The truth concerning the abuse of the impoverished is, however, mishandled by the ruling elites, who follow Mum and shun the Sothsegger. All privileged groups are shown as guilty of the laborers’ negligence and abuse, against which the poor are not protected even by the courts of law. The distribution of charity is also described as mismanaged or ineffective. Unable to recover from the series of fourteenth-century crises, disregarded and marginalized, the destitute are presented in the poem simultaneously as a social group meriting assistance and as wild and foolish subjects, who need to be guided and scrupulously scrutinized to prevent their dissension and their violation of the traditional social hierarchy. The ambiguity of the representation of the poor manifests the resilience of the traditional social order defended by the nobility. Even if the fourteenth century disasters did not immediately bring about the ultimate redefinition of the organization of the medieval society, still, their cumulative effect set certain processes in motion, which gradually changed medieval economy, undermined the stability of the feudal system and affected medieval attitudes, despite the fact that those wielding power resisted these changes and struggled to prevent them. The contemporary problems with the definition of various medieval crises might be compared to the difficulty the late medieval poets had with pinning down the actual meaning of poverty and truth, which generated divergent, often contradictory responses in the late medieval society. The analysis of the cultural implications of the multiple fourteenth-century crises and their representation in the late medieval English literature can deepen our knowledge concerning the social and cultural responses to the situations that in the late Middle Ages threatened to uproot the existent order. The early fifteenth-century poetic portrayal of the tensions which emerged in the aftermath of these catastrophes can, additionally, expand our awareness of the symbolic forms through which the medieval authors expressed their responses to these difficult phenomena, and can, eventually, also encourage us to rethink our conceptualization of the challenges the world faces today.

References Aers, D. (1988). Community, gender and individual identity. Routledge. Alford, J. (1988). The design of the poem. In J. Alford (Ed.), A companion to ‘Piers Plowman’ (pp. 29–66). University of California Press. Bilynsky, M. (Ed.) (2014). Studies in Middle English. Word, forms, senses and texts. Peter Lang. Brooke, J. L. (2014). Climate change and the course of global history: A rough journey. Cambridge University Press. Crassons, K. (2010). The claims of poverty. Literature, culture, and ideology in late medieval England. University of Notre Dame Press.

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Dean, J. M. (Ed.). (2000). Richard the Redeless and Mum and the Sothsegger. Western Michigan University-Medieval Institute Publications (TEAMS Middle English Texts Series). Dodd, G. (2014). Kingship, parliament and the court: The emergence of ‘high style’ in petitions to the English crown, c. 1350–1405, The English Historical Review, 129(538), 515–548. https:// doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceu117 Drendel, J. (Ed.). (2015). Crisis in the later Middle Ages. Beyond the Postan—Duby paradigm. Brepols. Dyer, C. (2012). Poverty and its relief in late medieval England. Past and Present, 216(1), 41–78. Ellis, S. (2005). Chaucer: Oxford guide. Oxford University Press. Ferster, J. (1996). Fictions of advice. The literature and politics of counsel in late medieval England. University of Pennsylvania Press. Green, R. F. (2002). Crisis of truth: Literature and law in Ricardian England. University of Pennsylvania Press. Kaminsky, H. (2000). From lateness to waning to crisis: The burden of the later Middle Ages. Journal of Early Modern Studies, 4(1), 85–125. Kitsikopoulos, H. (Ed.). (2012). Agrarian change and crisis in Europe, 1200–1500. Routledge. Meiner, C., & Kristin, V. (Eds.). (2012). The cultural life of catastrophes and crises (Concepts for the Study of Culture). De Gruyter. Mollat, M. (1986). The poor in the Middle Ages. An essay in social history. Yale University Press. Nuning, A. (2012). Making crises and catastrophes—How metaphors and narratives shape their cultural life. In C. Meiner & K. Veel (Eds.), The cultural life of catastrophes and crises (concepts for the study of culture) (pp. 59–89). De Gruyter. Sturges, R. S. (2016). Nerehand nothyng to pay or to take: Poverty, labour and money in four Townely plays. In J. Vitullo & D. Wolfthal (Eds.), Money morality and literature in late medieval and early modern Europe. Routledge. Tuchman, B. (1978). A distant mirror. Ballantine Books.

Joanna Bukowska obtained her Ph.D. in British literature in 2003 from Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n. Her doctoral dissertation was entitled “Between the concept of man and the concept of a romance hero. Semiotic and cultural analysis of characters in Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur.” Since 2006 she has been employed at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, an integral part of Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n. She teaches British and American literature. Her academic research and her publications concern: Middle English literature, especially late medieval literature, Chaucerian apocrypha, medieval women studies, and medievalist fiction.

The Crisis Appearing in the Construal of the Mediaeval Concepts of Truth, Soth and Faith in The Canterbury Tales with Their Contemporary Counterparts Agnieszka Wawrzyniak

Abstract The aim of the chapter is to focus on the conceptual construal of ME truth, soth and faith in The Canterbury Tales in order to reconstruct the culture in Chaucer’s world. The analysis is based on The Canterbury Tales (The British Library Copies edited by Barbara Bordalejo). The chapter will refer to the etymology of the lexemes that constituted the concepts of mediaeval truth, soth and faith as well as to their semantic similarities and differences. It will aim to analyze the key values and key words linked with the mediaeval society. Furthermore, the attempt is also to juxtapose Middle English and Present Day English concepts thereby reflecting on two distinct cultures, hence on two distinct worldviews, and the apparent crisis of values. Keywords Crisis · Values · Mediaeval · Ideology · Culture · Concept

1 Introduction The paper is an attempt at analyzing the conceptual construal of ME TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in order to reconstruct the world and culture of Geoffrey Chaucer. The subject of the analysis is also to juxtapose Middle English and Present Day English concepts of TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH thereby reflecting on two distinct cultures and two distinct worldviews, and the apparent crisis of values. Hence, the aim is not only to reconstruct the world of Geoffrey Chaucer, but to differentiate it with the world of contemporary Western European society, in particular with the English society, thereby reflecting on two distinct cultures and the loss of crucial values that were evoked by ME concepts of TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH. The words that I chose for the analysis are in semantic proximity, and at first sight they seem to be associated prototypically with religious values. I analysed the above concepts as well as the expressions encoded by them in order to see how the concepts, that belong to the same category, encode expressions that go beyond A. Wawrzyniak (B) Department of English, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n, Pozna´n, Poland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_4

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that category. The subject of my analysis is conventionalized, ingrained, common expressions, rather than novel ones. These are the expressions rooted in long-term memory, thereby reflecting the trait of common cultural heritage. The core matter of my analysis is the juxtaposition of ME concepts TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH during the time of Chaucer and to contrast them with the concepts they evoke for the contemporary English society. To begin with, the initial aim of the paper is the reconstruction of the concept of TROUTHE in Chaucer’s Tales (Underhill, 2012; Wawrzyniak, 2016, 2017). Mediaeval people viewed this concept differently, because their norms, systems of beliefs or priorities were based on different criteria and reflected opposite worldviews when juxtaposed with norms, and values of contemporary Western European culture. The paper will thus aim to refer to the linguistic picture of the world, or to the linguistic interpretation of reality (Bartmi´nski & Tokarski, 1986). According to Bartmi´nski and Tokarski (1986), literature is rooted in culture, but also culture affects language. The analysis of frequent collocations related to the concepts of TROUTHE in The Canterbury Tales, and recorded in conceptual metaphors, and then the juxtaposition of linguistic, historical and cultural contexts casts a different perspective upon the studied items. It appears that the lexicon and the contexts make it possible to set the analyzed concepts in the mediaeval reality, and thereby to build up the mediaeval understanding of the concept of TROUTHE. As for the spirit of the contemporary English culture, I will refer to works by Wierzbicka (2006), and her notion of key words, thus on words which echo cultural norms and values. They constitute the concepts that are vital for the particular culture, for their system of beliefs and the shared norms. The analysis will aim to show that Middle English trouthe was a key word, and a reference point in the conceptualization of LOVE, MIND and LIGT. Also, for other linguists (D´zwirek and Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, 2009; Kovecses, ¨ 2015), both universal and cultural factors affect one another and both should be taken into account in the conceptualization of abstract domains, which then become cultural constructs set in a particular setting, and in a particular social period. The concept of culture can thus be perceived as a set of meanings shared by a group of people (Kovecses, ¨ 2015, p. 75). To be a member of a culture means to be able to communicate successfully with other members of the group and share values with them. From this perspective, there is a link between common expressions and the social attitudes. Common expressions are not simply the dead remains of linguistic usage that have become figurative. They are, at the same time, the heritage of a common spirit and if we only understand rightly and penetrate their covert richness of meaning, they can make this common spirit perceivable again. (Gadamer, 1976, p. 72)

In other words, common expressions may reflect social attitudes and the national spirit. The study will aim to show that the concepts of soth, truth and faith are used in common expressions on every day basis by the mediaeval society, and that they are not just words per se, but that they are imbued with national values and beliefs. Moreover, the study will differentiate between the concepts of evoked by trouthe and soth. It will show that trouthe is in line with the beliefs and principles of the mediaeval society and that it is activated in to refer to the variety of concepts, such

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as honour or love to a country, or a person. Soth, by contrast is applied as a discourse marker and has a strictly pragmatic function. As for faith, the analysis will pinpoint to a variety of concepts it used to build up in The Canterbury Tales, and to its emphatic function in the discourse. The analysis utilizes Caxton’s Canterbury Tales: The British Library Copies (ed. by Barbara Bordalejo), which is a CD-ROM containing the first full-colour facsimiles of all copies of William Caxton’s first and second editions of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. This is also the first-ever electronic publication of the full text of all copies of the Caxton editions. The study is based on all contexts in which trouthe, soth and faith were recorded. In order to achieve maximum accuracy, the data is also supported by the Middle English Dictionary (MED), and by the Online Etymological Dictionary.

2 The Semantic Analysis of Trouthe Following Online Etymological Dictionary of English (s.v. trouthe), Middle English trouthe goes back to Old English triewþ (West Saxon), treowþ (Mercian), which denoted ‘faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, veracity, honour’. The word originated from Proto Germanic triwwiþ¯o (promise, covenant, contract). As has already been mentioned, the study is an attempt at showing that trouthe was a key word and a reference point in conceptualization of LOVE (to a person, to a country), HONOUR, FIDELITY, MIND and LIGHT. The analysis revealed 45 instances related to trouthe.

2.1 The Link Between Trouthe and Love Middle English trouthe was a significant element in the mediaeval concept of LOVE. According to Middle English Dictionary (MED, s.v. trouthe), trouthe could mean the following senses: • • • •

fidelity, constancy in love, devotion, sincerity in love, genuine love.

The analysis showed that out of 45 instances related to trouthe, 22 reflected the link between trouthe and love. Trouthe in the construal of love was strongly linked with fidelity and a promised word as well as infidelity, which can be exemplified by the following collocations from The Canterbury Tales: • breke trouthe (The Franklin’s Tale 803) ‘to break word, to be unfaithful’ • hold trouthe (The Franklin’s Tale 797) ‘to be faithful’

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• keep and sauetrouthe (The Franklin’s Tale 767) ‘keep and save one’s given promise’ • haue x’s trouthe (The Franklin’s Tale 51; The Knight’s Tale 752) ‘to make a promise that you will marry him/her) • falle of trouthe (The Franklin’s Tale 882) ‘to break one’s word, to commit adultery’ • vntrouthe (The Merchant’s Tale 997) ‘adultery’. In other words, trouthe was a highly lexicalized concept. It was used on everyday basis and with a variety of verbs (break, hold, keep, save, have) with reference to love/fidelity and a promised word. It could be used as a synonym of love and fidelity. Moreover, when linked with a negative prefix vn, or when co-occurring with fall, trouthe evoked the opposite values, such as adultery and breaking one’s word. Furthermore, it should also be emphasized that trouthe was frequently linked with personal pronouns (e.g., my trouthe, thy trouthe, his trouthe) when it evoked the associations of honour, pledge of loyalty, and of a given word. It was thus subjectively oriented. Trouthe, referring to the mediaeval concept of LOVE and FIDELITY can be exemplified by the following contexts from The Canterbury Tales: • “Haue here my trouthe” (The Knight’s Tale 752) (“Have my word of commitment”). • “He plighte me his trouthe” (The Wife of Bath’s Tale 1024) (“He made a promise that he would marry me”) • “This sholde break your trouthe” (The Franklin’s Tale 814) (“This will break your word given to me/your oath”). • “Thou shalt vp on thy trouthe swere” (The Franklin’s Tale 814) (“You should swear on your honour”). In these contexts, trouthe was associated with honour, but also with love, and a promised word. Trouthe, however, could also evoke a more general concept of fidelity, honour and loyalty (e.g., fidelity to one’s country). The analysis recorded nine instances that projected the more general concept of fidelity, or honour, which can be exemplified by the collocations implemented in syntactically different types of phrases: • trouthe and honour (The General Prologue 46) ‘truth and honour’ • be my trouthe (The Merchant’s Tale 663) ‘on my honour’ • hold trouthe (The Franklin’s Tale 225) ‘be loyal, keep one’s word’. In the coordinated noun phrase trouthe and honour, the associations of truth and honour overlap. The prepositional phrase—be my trouthe, can be implemented as an epistemic discourse marker reflecting the speaker’s honesty and commitment to what he/she said, whereas the verbal phrase hold trouthe can be addressed to the hearer that he/she should be loyal and not say or do anything that might defame him/her.

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2.2 The Link Between Trouthe and Light Middle English trouthe evoked also spiritual, religious values. The analysis records eight instances of trouthe projecting the concept of light. Trouthe as a religious concept and as the embodiment of light referred to faithfulness to God, religious devotion to God, as well as to fidelity, moral soundness, decency, and the spiritual realm. In Chaucer’s Tales, there was a direct link between LIGHT and trouthe, which were interrelated. In other words, trouthe gave access to light, which could be exemplified by the following contexts: • “My brother may haue grace to know the trouthe.” (The Nun’s Tale 237) (“My brother may have grace to know the truth”). • “Beleue right and know verry trouthe.” (The Nun’s Tale 259) (“Believe right and know real truth”). • “But now our dwelling in trouthe is.” (The Nun’s Tale 291) (“But now our dwelling is in truth”). • “And was ful glad he could trouthe aspye”. (The Nun’s Tale 291) (“And he was happy that he could experience truth”). Similarly, the expression verry trouthe was associated with absolute, divine truth. Middle English verry projected religious values, and denoted the sense ‘real’. According to Middle English dictionary (MED, s.v., verry), verry denoted ‘consistent with reality, properly representing the truth’. The expression verry trouthe referred to a religious dimension of truth. Hence, it projected truth as the highest value, which can be exemplified by the following contexts: • “Beleue right and knowe verry trouthe.” (The Nun’s Tale 259) (“Believe right and know the real truth”). • “For Crist is verry trouthe.” (The Parson’s Tale 519) (“Christ is the absolute truth”). In such contexts, when trouthe was perceived as an absolute, it was not preceded by possessive adjectives. Hence, viewed as an absolute, trouthe could co-occur with such pre-modifiers as verry, but also by grete ‘great’, righte ‘right’, or hiehst ‘highest’. The collocation that projects truth as an absolute value can be exemplified by the following context: “Trouthe is the hiehst thing man may kepe.” (The Franklin’s Tale 769) (Truth is the highest thing that a man may keep). For the mediaeval society, the concepts of LIGHT perceived as holiness, and the trouthe were interrelated. They believed that LIGHT gave access to the TRUTH. This absolute, intangible, inner vision was conceived as real, objective and valuable: In the older Indo-European cultures, it must be emphasized, the spiritual realm was not considered to be purely subjective and personal domain at all - rather the reverse- it was objective and real, just like the world of daily life, but hidden from our everyday mortal sight, and hence only to be seen by those with appropriate hidden vision. (Sweetser, 1990, p. 40)

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Thus, in the mediaeval concept of VISION, three concepts are interrelated, namely VISION, COGNITION and FAITH. From the mediaeval perspective, vision does not come purely from sight, but from God. In other words, vision is not related to the senses, but to The Highest Authority. It was believed that people can see even if they are blind. People assumed that sight could even mislead people, or give them a distorted picture of the world. It was believed that only those people could see properly who had the inner light and thus the capacity to recognize the TRUTH (an internal eye). This inner light was conceived as a part of their mind. The concept of TRUTH was thus a key concept in Chaucer’s Tales as it constituted the system of mediaeval values.

2.3 The Link Between Trouthe and Wisdom The concept of TROUTHE perceived as light or as a right perspective, affected also the conceptualization of wisdom, and to be precise, the conceptualization of Middle English sapience (‘religious, spiritual wisdom). The corpus records six cases that reflect the link between trouthe and sapience. The deeper dimension of sapience linked with trouthe can be demonstrated in the following context: Be cause of thy swetewordes and eke for I haue Assaied thy grete sapience and thy grete truth I will gouerne me by thy council in allemanere thing. (The Tale of Melibee 146) (Due to your sweet words and moreover for I tested your great sapience and your great truth I will follow your counsel in all manners of life).

Hence, sapience and trouthe are valued more than the rational and the logical. Sapience can be defined as spiritual, good and ennobling wisdom. All in all, sapience applies to divine wisdom, and is the synonym to ghostli wisdom ‘spiritual wisdom’. According to Wierzbicka (1992), the contemporary English society view mind as predominantly intellectual. Therefore, MIND focuses on the intellect, hence, on processes of thinking and knowing rather than on aspects of a person’s inner or spiritual life. The English value the reason and reason-based approach to life. Mediaeval society, however, valued TRUTH and LIGHT more than reason and rationality. The mediaeval concept of MIND was partly rational and partly spiritual. It focused on immaterial aspects, such as intuition, religious, mysterious and spiritual dimensions.

3 The Semantic Analysis of Soth Following Online Etymological Dictionary of English (s.v. soth), Middle English soth goes back to Old English soþ (West Saxon), which denoted ‘truth, reality, certainty,

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fact’, or ‘truth in a general sense; conformity with a general standard’ (OED, s.v. soth). The word originated from Proto Germanic *sanþas (truth, true). Its cognates are Gothic sunja ‘truth’, Old High German sand ‘true’, and Old Norse saþr ‘truth’. According to Middle English Dictionary (MED, s.v. soth), soth referred to the truth of the situation and to the actual fact. Unlike trouthe, soth does not evoke divine, spiritual values, but rather it is applied as a discourse marker. It is mostly used in introductory phrases and performs purely pragmaticalized function. Soth is also recorded in the expressions that encode ‘stating the fact’. The analysis records 72 instances related to the lexeme soth, and 61 based on its derivative sothly. Soth in The Canterbury Tales was used with reference to the following areas: • indeed, in fact • in clauses ‘the truth is that’ • stating the fact (truth), not lying. Most of the senses of soth can be rendered as ‘in fact, indeed’. The analysis of the corpus records 31 expressions containing the lexeme soth, that stand for ‘in fact, or indeed’, such as for soth/forsoth, soth to say/tell, or in soth. Such a sense of soth can be exemplified by the following contexts: • “For soth he was a worthy man with alle But soth to say I not know how men hym call.” (The General Prologue 286) • (“Indeed, he was the worthiest man; but to tell the truth, I do not know how men call him”). • “But soth to say he was somdelskweymous.” (The Miller’s Tale 151) (“But in fact he was in a way squeamish”). • “For soth nature dryueth versus to loue our frendes.” (The Parson’s Tale 453) (“In fact nature drives us to love our friends”). The contexts show that the function of soth is emphatic. Soth is utilized by the speaker to make the discourse more convincing to the listener. Additionally, soth could be implemented in the expression—“soth is this/that” to evoke the same meaning as PDE ‘the truth is (that)’, which can be exemplified by the context: Soth is that thorowwomanysegement Mankynde was lost and damnydeuer to dye (The Man of Law’s Tale 744) (The truth is that through woman’s instigation, mankind was lost and damned to die).

Moreover, soth was also used in the sense of stating the fact, as in: “The child saith soth.” (The Parson’s Tale 358) (The child said the truth). Apart from soth, its derivative sothly was also frequently applied as a discourse marker. Tables 1 and 2 show the variety of epistemic markers encoding soth and sothly as well as frequencies of their applications. Moreover, PDE concept of TRUTH is not imbued with religious values. It is not directly linked with God and the divinity as the society is more and more secularized. Furthermore, the Middle English central senses attributed to trouthe, such as

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Table 1 Epistemic markers encoding soth

Table 2 Epistemic markers encoding sothly

for soth/forsoth

24

50%

soth to say/tell

9

19%

in soth

1

2%

soth is this/that

7

14%

sothly

37

61%

for sothly

16

26%

know sothly, know for sothly

2

3%

sothly for to telle sothly to telle

2

3%

sothly as I gesse

2

3%

sothly to say

1

2%

me thinkith sothly

1

2%

faithfulness, fidelity, pledge of loyalty, or honour are perceived as obsolete in PDE truth (OED, s.v. truth). The epistemic markers encoding soth and sothly are in italics in order to show the mediaeval form of such expressions.

4 Faith as a Discourse Marker The aim of this study is also to show that faith was frequently implemented in the discourse for emphasis and as a means of initiating the discourse. Hence, similarly to soth, faith was heavily used to start the conversation where it functioned as a complement in a variety of prepositional phrases. It shows that the mediaeval society had the propensity to take concepts associated with religious, spiritual values and implement them in creating the discourse: In the semantic universe reflected in this type of discourse, truth and faith reign supreme, and there is little concern indeed with the limitations of human knowledge or the need for modulating one’s assent in accordance with the strength of the available evidence. It is definitely a pre-Enlightenment type of discourse. (Wierzbicka, 2006, p. 243)

The English word faith (OED, s.v., faith), dates from 1200 to 1250 from the ME feith, via Anglo-French feid, feit ‘faith, belief, trust, confidence, pledge’, and Latin fides ‘trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief’, all of which are related with PIE root *bheidh ‘to trust, confide, persuade’. The analysis of The Canterbury Tales records the senses of faith as displayed in Table 3. The study shows that faith, apart from the domain of religious context, was widely applied in every-day context to denote the sense of loyalty, honesty, truthfulness and a promised word. Moreover, in the 65% of contexts its function was emphatic. Additionally, as for its connotations with a promised word, it evoked similar undertones as ME trouthe.

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Table 3 The senses of faith Religious doctrine Loyalty, honesty, truthfulness, promised word Emphatic function

11

20%

8

15%

35

65

• brekyng of faith, breken faith (The Parson’s Tales 801), ‘to break one’s word or promise’ • good faith (The Nun’s Tale 378) ‘loyalty, honesty, sincerity in love’ • fals faith (The Nun’s Tale 378) ‘treachery’. In other words, both faith and trouthe were applied to denote ‘promised word, honesty and fidelity and honour in love’. As for the emphatic function, faith was implemented in the variety of prepositional phrases to denote the sense ‘on my honour, certainly, indeed, truly’, hence to give the credibility of the stated fact: • • • • • • •

be my faith on/upon my faith for my faith in good faith par ma fay be my fay/fey parfey/parfay. The emphatic sense can be exemplified by the following context:

• “For soth nature dryueth versus to loue our frendes And parfey our enemyeshaue more nede to loue than our frendes.” (The Parson’s Tale 453) (“For certain nature drives us to love our friends; and perhaps or enemies have more need to love than our friends.”) • “Parfey quod he the fanton is in my hed.” (The Man of Law’s Tale 939) (“Perhaps, said he, the phantom is in my head”).

5 The Juxtaposition of ME and PDE Concepts of TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH The analysis aims to show the changing attitude towards the concept of TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH, and the decline of spiritual values when compared reality projected in Chaucer’s Tales and the contemporary Anglo culture. To begin with, the concept of trouthe should be conceived as a key word for the mediaeval society as it evoked values and beliefs of that society. Middle English trouthe could be perceived as an absolute, but also as an attribute linked with humans

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(love, honour). Similar associations were evoked by faith, which centrally denoted ‘promised word’, ‘honesty’, ‘fidelity’, and honour in love. Consequently, as an absolute, trouthe was modified by verry, whereas if related with humans, trouthecould be preceded by possessive adjectives. Additionally, trouthe perceived as an absolute was identified with divine light and acted as a reference point for the conceptualization of other abstract concepts, such as wisdom, or love, thereby reflecting the beliefs of the mediaeval society, in the sense of how wisdom, or love should be perceived. In such contexts trouthe was highly lexicalized and used as synonymous with love and a promised word. All in all, trouthe could be human, when linked with love, honour and a promised word, or it could be divine, when associated with the spiritual, and the religious. Therefore, trouthe could be also perceived as the blend, or as the mixture of the divine, and of the human. In contrast to trouthe, soth did not evoke the absolute, spiritual values. Rather, it expressed subjective judgement of the speaker. Hence, the holistic concept of TRUTH expressed by trouthe and soth was so entrenched in the mind of the mediaeval society that it was implemented in various aspects of their lives; to express the abstract, spiritual, often divine values (trouthe) as well as in discourse markers to initiate the discourse, or to make the expressions more emphatic. Wierzbicka (2006) also emphasizes how frequently the mediaeval speaker “vouches emphatically’ for the truth of what he/she is saying’ using phrases that codify truth. Thus, in the mediaeval period, truth is a frequent and a dominant concept formation and everyday communication. The contemporary Anglo culture, however, does not feel comfortable with the concept of TRUTH. Consequently, there is a variation between mediaeval and PDE approach to the TRUTH. It is definitely not a key word in the contemporary Anglo culture. According to Fernández-Armesto, the English focus on knowledge finding rather than on truth finding. Contemporary English society identifies itself with the search for knowledge, which is based on reason and a rational approach: Although the use of reason is as old as the history of mankind, its spells of preponderance succeed those of the truth feel and the truth you are told. Reason provides a means of escaping from the constraints of belief-systems backed by authority and from the resentment which clever people feel at the power of their own passions. Because reason - in admittedly varying degrees - is available to everybody, it has a potential advantage over the truth you feel and the truth you are told. (Fernández-Armesto, 1998, p. 85)

The concept of TRUTH is either avoided or replaced by other concepts rooted in reason, and in rational thinking. Similarly, Wierzbicka (2006, p. 243) claims that in modern English, the frequency of using ‘truth’ diminishes. Instead of expressions codifying truth, contemporary English speakers use phrases that imply lack of confidence, such as ‘I expect’, or ‘I gather’. Likewise, she mentions prevalence of epistemic adverbs in the discourse organization, such as ‘presumably’, ‘apparently’, ‘allegedly’, or ‘evidently’, which imply hedging. Similarly, sooth and faith are no longer central markers initiating the discourse. In this way, Wierzbicka makes a distinction between ‘the Age of Faith’, and ‘the Age of Reason’. Moreover, PDE concept of TRUTH is not imbued with religious values. It is not directly linked with God and the divinity as the society is more and more secularized. Furthermore, the Middle English central senses attributed to trouthe, such as

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faithfulness, fidelity, pledge of loyalty, or honour are perceived as obsolete in PDE truth (OED, s.v. truth).

6 Conclusions The aim of the paper was to reconstruct the world of Geoffrey Chaucer, and to differentiate it with the world of contemporary Western European society, in particular with the English society, thereby reflecting on two distinct cultures and the loss of crucial values that were evoked by ME concepts of TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH. In other words, the analysis of these concepts was a means to refer to the world and culture of Geoffrey Chaucer and to picture the mediaeval world hidden behind words. The paper showed the apparent crisis of values in the contemporary Anglo culture, that is of values that were imbued in the mediaeval key words of TRUTH, SOTH and FAITH, but also the gradual emergence of other values bound with the contemporary Anglo culture. The analysis showed that the senses that were central in Chaucer’s Tales, are marginal or non-existent for the contemporary English society. These concepts reflected different values and the incompatible views of the world manifested by both mediaeval and contemporary society. Mediaeval society in Chaucer’s Tales favour spiritual, religious values and intuition. They view intense emotions highly positively. The mediaeval concept of MIND was partly rational and partly spiritual. It focused on immaterial aspects, such as intuition, religious and spiritual dimensions. This kind of inner vision, or inner light, was positively loaded. The component of the mind that was wholly spiritual was sapience. Moreover, for the mediaeval society the concept of an inner eye, that was inextricably bound with the truth, was lexicalized and used on every day basis. The analysis showed that trouthe and faith as key words were also reference points in conceptualization of HONOUR, FIDELITY, LOVE (to a person, to a country).The concept of TROUTHE was also activated to refer to MIND and LIGHT. In other words, trouthe as well as faith triggered other concepts vital for the mediaeval society that stood in the semantic proximity with trouthe and faith by reflecting common norms and values. With regard to love, trouthe and faith projected the concepts of fidelity, unbreakable quality of a bond and the commitment between lovers. They referred to the inner, spiritual bond that started to exist between lovers after they promised to be faithful to each other. Via the association with a promised word, love and fidelity, the concepts of trouthe and faith could be also extended to refer to fidelity to one’s country, loyalty and honour. The study also showed the frequent use of faith and soth as markers organizing the discourse. When it comes to the contemporary English society, a shift of values can be observed. The values, which were the core values for the mediaeval society, seem much less significant. Consequently, the English society no longer identifies with them. According to Wierzbicka (1992), the English view MIND as predominantly intellectual. The MIND focuses on the intellect, rather than on aspects of a person’s

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inner or spiritual life. Contemporary society favours reason and a rational approach to life. They view intense emotions as negative. Moreover, the English highlight autonomy, impartiality, and the concept of a personal space. As has been emphasized, truth in Present Day English is not a key word, nor is it a concept that projects other concepts of love/promised word, honour or wisdom. Moreover, neither truth nor honour are as significant as they used to be for the mediaeval speakers. The concept of TRUTH is either avoided or replaced by other concepts rooted in reason (Wierzbicka, 2006) as the society is becoming more and more rational, but also secularized. In Middle English, religious and every-day contexts permeated. Trouthe and faith were used in religious contexts, but also to refer to other abstract values significant for that society (love, promised word, honesty, honour). Furthermore, faith and soth were central elements in shaping the discourse. In other words, the values of the society associated with TRUTH and FAITH were reflected in the language per se. In PDE lexeme truth, the senses of faithfulness, fidelity, pledge of loyalty or honour are perceived as obsolete (OED, s.v. truth). Similarly, PDE speakers do not resort to truth or faith to shape a discourse. Nor is faith a lexeme that projects a formal pledge, or a promise.

References Bartmi´nski, J., &Tokarski, R. (1986). J˛ezykowy obraz s´wiata a spójno´sc´ tekstu [Linguistic picture of the world and the textual coherence]. In T. Dobrzy´nska (Ed.), Teoria Tekstów. Zbiór studiów [Theory of texts. Collection of studies] (pp. 65–81). Bordalejo, B. (Ed.). (2003). Caxton’s Canterbury tales project: The British library copies. University of Birmingham. D´zwirek, K., & Lewandowska Tomaszczyk, B. (2009). Complex emotions and grammatical mismatches. Mouton de Gruyter. Etymological Dictionary Online. Retrieved March 13, 2019, from http://www.etymonline.com/ Fernández-Armesto, F. (1998). Truth: A history and guide for the perplexed. Black Swan. Gadamer, H. (1976). Philosophical hermeneutics. Trans. D. E. Binge. University of California Press. Kovecses, ¨ Z. (2015). Where metaphors come from. Reconsidering context in metaphor. Oxford University Press. MED Online. Retrieved March 13, 2019, from http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/ Sweetser, E. (1990). From etymology to pragmatics. Cambridge University Press. Underhill, J. (2012). Ethnolinguistics and cultural concepts: Truth, love, hate and war. Cambridge University Press. Wawrzyniak, A. (2016). The cognitive construal of Geoffrey Chaucer’s world. The metaphors and metonymies of LOVE, MIND and LIGHT in The Canterbury Tales. Wydział PedagogicznoArtystyczny. Wawrzyniak, A. (2017). The juxtaposition of Chaucer’s trouthe and trew with PDE truth and true. A change or continuity? In E. Krawczyk-Neifar (Ed.), Continuity and change. And what next? (pp. 170–178). Wy˙zsza Szkoła Pracy. Wierzbicka, A. (1992). Semantics, culture and cognition: Universal human concepts in culturespecific configuration. Oxford University Press. Wierzbicka, A. (2006). English. Oxford University Press.

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Agnieszka Wawrzyniak, Ph.D., graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna´n, and received a doctoral degree in 2006. She is currently employed in the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz. Her main interests lie in the field of historical linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and cultural studies. The author of the book The cognitive construal of Geoffrey Chaucer’s world. The metaphors and metonymies of LOVE, MIND and LIGHT in The Canterbury Tales, and of numerous articles related to the analysis of various abstract concepts in The Canterbury Tales.

Present Crises

Different Shades of Crisis in Selected Advertising Messages Anna Stwora

Abstract The changing role of advertising in contemporary societies has led to the rise of many non-commercial ads which address different shades of crisis with a view to sensitising people to grave problems. This trend is particularly important because of the fact that such ads can change public attitude, popularise social causes or even change human habits. The primary objective of this paper is hence to explore the topic of crisis in selected advertising messages. Based on a selection of ads retrieved from one of the largest internet archives of the creative advertising community known as Ads of the World™ (2019), the author of this paper aims at showing various representations of crisis and stressing the possible sociocultural impact of ads on the society. To this end, she will carry out a qualitative analysis of several exemplary multimodal print ads and discuss the results from the standpoint of their potential sociocultural consequences. Keywords Non-commercial advertising · Multimodal ads · Crisis · Sociocultural dimension of advertising · Culture

1 Introduction Although much has already been written about advertising discourse, the sociocultural dimension of ads is the one that, to the author’s mind, deserves constant attention. The issue is continually revisited owing to the rapidly changing sociocultural environment that influences the themes, symbols, and concepts that surface in ads, thus mirroring their contextual surroundings. At the same time, advertising exerts a significant impact on the sociocultural landscape since ads are potent vehicles for selling behavioural patterns, ideas, and values that constitute “the deep ideological structure A. Stwora (B) Institute of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Department of European, American, and Intercultural Studies, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_5

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of ads” (Goldman, 1992, p. i). The very presence of this two-way process testifies to ads’ significance as far as both the social and the cultural domain is concerned. “The material impact of ads lies in producing and reproducing a currency of sign values that can be joined to commodities” (Goldman, 1992, p. i) and to ideas as well, thus making people, consciously or not, accept the social logic and arguments imposed by the advertising framework (cf. Goldman, 1992). But, what is more, advertisements have other sociocultural functions and consequences that extend beyond information or infotainment and tackle various problems contemporary society (or at least parts thereof) is fraught with. The role of advertising in contemporary societies has evolved and, consequently, led to the rise of many non-commercial ads whose main function is to address different shades of crisis with the aim of sensitising people to growing problems of various sorts. Thus, such advertisements can potentially change public attitudes and habits, popularise social causes or encourage people to combat serious problems. This paper will address the issue of crisis in selected advertising messages but, first of all, it is important to specify that by crisis in advertising messages the author does not mean any disturbing trends in advertising, but rather the ads which explore the topic of crisis in a variety of ways. In fact, it seems that the world of advertising is nowadays far from any downfall; this is due the fact that the presence of numerous references to contemporary socio-political conditions, the availability of various media (print and outdoor advertising, traditional broadcast advertising, and, finally, the Internet), and the sheer multitude of modes of expression available contribute to ads’ importance and striking originality, which have made advertising discourse part and parcel of contemporary cultural landscape. Being based on a selection of ads retrieved from the internet archive of the creative advertising community Ads of the World™ (2019), this study seeks to explore selected advertising messages in order to show various representations of crisis and, thus, highlight the sociocultural impact such ads may have on the society. To attain this objective, the author will perform a qualitative analysis of several multimodal print ads and discuss the results in relation to the sociocultural standpoint.

2 Advertising—Selling Ideas and Selling Images In this section, some consideration will be given to the purposes ads may potentially serve with a view to showing that they can sell goods and ideas alike. Then, some general points concerning the power of the visual and the multimodal in ads will be addressed, for contemporary advertising sells chiefly thanks to evocative images or combinations of text and pictures, as it takes place in multimodal messages.

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2.1 Ads’ Categorisation by Purpose The chief purpose of advertising per se is to persuade people to purchase goods and services offered; notwithstanding, some ads encourage the audience to adopt specific ideas or internalise particular concepts, which means that the reasons for which advertising exists is by no means restricted to selling. Although its main function is still to apprise the prospects of relevant facts concerning the goods on offer, advertising as a phenomenon has, in fact, evolved in terms of purpose. Nowadays, it aims at weaving the products and services into consumers’ lives, as it continually persuades people that they need to buy specific goods so as to establish their position in the society and create themselves anew (Laird, 1998). What is more, advertising establishes explicit trendsetting goals, as it can sell behavioural and lifestyle patterns whose function in terms of community formation surely has a dramatic impact on contemporary societies, on what they think and what they do (Lewi´nski, 1999). As far as classification by purpose is concerned, research on advertising usually falls into three main classes, namely product versus non-product ads, action versus awareness ads, and commercial versus non-commercial ads. The first category mentioned focuses on the distinction between product and non-product advertising messages that deal with the promotion of both tangible and intangible features of a product (name, looks, logo, and related impressions engendered by the goods) and with the mission, philosophy, and values featured, respectively. Non-product ads can be used to provide support to charities (Bovée & Arens, 1992), as well as to sell a rich variety of ideas that may range from lifestyle, social or political to religious ones. When it comes to action and awareness ads (Rapp & Collins, 1987, pp. 17–30), the former require immediate reaction on the part of the audience, while the latter are supposed to develop consciousness of a product. But the categorisation that seems the most important to this study is the one that distinguishes between commercial and non-commercial advertising. Commercial ads, as the very name suggests, work towards communicating essential information about the goods promoted with the expectation of making a profit. The non-commercial variety, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with manipulating social values and attitudes by various organisations such as charities, foundations or religious and cultural institutions in order to promote certain behaviours, raise funds with a particular cause or recruit volunteers (Bovée & Arens, 1992; Wells et al., 2006). This type of advertising is particularly important in terms of its ability to sensitise people to various problems, menaces, and thorny issues they tend to forget about. Such ads are far from being sugarcoated messages that feature ideal models, places, products or situations; rather, they confront the audience with what is wrong, disturbing or unfair, thus making people face different shades of crisis in hope that they see the problems and reshape their world accordingly. Non-commercial ads addressing the problem of drink-driving, the homeless, the poor, or domestic violence, water crisis advertisements or equality ads are only several examples that can be mentioned here. In general, the focus of such ads depends on the intention of

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the addressor, which is why it is always the addressor who decides what becomes a crisis. The cause or issue shown in non-commercial advertising is deemed a crisis due to its potential impact on the society. It is portrayed as a serious problem, a decisive, turning point, or a time of imminent danger or grave difficulty when a firm, and oftentimes hard, decision must be made in order to stop the said threat. As a matter of fact, the problem is that, in a post-truth age, literally everything can become a crisis, from a certain point of view. All in all, what follows from this section is that ads can sell both goods and ideas, and it is the latter that is of interest in this paper. Yet, before proceeding to any particular examples of ads referring to various crises, one should first look into the very way in which such advertisements are usually constructed.

2.2 The Power of the Visual and the Multimodal in Ads First and foremost, it is important to acknowledge the fact that ads today, mostly visual or multimodal in their nature, are an essential part of the social landscape. They constitute potent tools of persuasion and stimulation, and are means of “(…) social interaction through messages” (Fiske, 1990, p. 2). Citing Beasley and Danesi (2002), “advertising has become one of the most recognisable and appealing forms of social communication to which virtually everyone in society is exposed. The images and messages that advertisers promulgate on a daily basis delineate the contemporary social landscape” (Beasley & Danesi, 2002, p. 34). Advertisements have become behaviour shapers and the carriers of various messages that promote different “modes” and “models” of life (Dumitrescu, 2016, p. 49). Their considerable opinion-forming potential and sociocultural impact stem from the fact that they literally show the audience what they want to communicate; the rhetorical force of the present-day advertising discourse lies in its visual dimension, i.e., in the rhetoric of images, as Mitchell (2006) calls it, and in the fact that visuals are assumed to be self-explanatory. This is due to the fact that seeing has more to do with learning and knowledge than with the unambiguous transfer of images to the brain. When we see things, we know what is there partly because of knowledge gained from previous experience. When we observe an image, we ‘read’ it rather than just absorb it, and it is therefore accurate to talk of visual ‘literacy.’ (Dyer, 1982, p. 75)

Therefore, the power of the gaze (Jay, 2002) is such that it makes the perceiver automatically read what he sees along with all the implied senses and meaning operations that need to be performed in order to decode metaphorical messages, for example. According to the typology proposed by Phillips and McQuarrie (2004), it is possible to differentiate several visual structures and meaning operations responsible for the communication of meaning in ads which rely on pictures. As regards visual structures that correspond to different levels of image complexity and to the ways in which the elements can be pictured in an ad, one can enumerate juxtaposition (two side-by-side images), fusion (two combined images), and replacement (in which the

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image present points to the one that is absent from the ad). As far as the types of meaning operations (i.e., the types of cognitive processing required to understand the pictorial) are concerned, one can list the operation of connection (that corresponds to the claim “A is associated with B”) and two forms of comparison: for similarity (“A is like B”) and opposition (“A is not like B”). Despite the trend that makes people depend on the unwritten, pictorial modes of communication and in spite of the fact that textual forms in ads seem to have become secondary these days (for ads no longer employ lengthy body copies, for instance), the verbal dimension is still alive, especially in multimodal ads. With multimodality defined as “the relationship between different semiotic modes in human communication and their textual instantiation” (Pinar Sanz, 2015, p. 1), multimodal ads rely on “(…) the simultaneous orchestration of diverse presentational modes” (Bateman, 2008, p. 1), that is, on both text and image that create the final meaning together. Not only does it make advertising messages more original, but also more appealing thanks to the cooperation of different modes in the course of message creation. As a result, ads are capable of showing and telling the audience more than only one modality could.

3 The Sociocultural Impact of Ads Featuring the Theme of Crisis Having presented the ways in which multimodal print advertisements can be constructed, the time has come to discuss the issue of their impact on the sociocultural aspect of human existence. Little do people realise to what extent ads, and especially non-commercial ads, influence the social, cultural, and cognitive landscape. Day by day, they seep into people’s conscious and subconscious mind alike, gradually shaping the way they think, modelling consumer behaviour in the case of commercial advertising messages and moulding public perceptions of social issues when it comes to non-commercial ones. There are several ways to make people interested in serious issues, shockvertising being one of them; this form of advertising, as Pérez-Sobrino (2016) puts it, “(…) is often controversial, disturbing, explicit and crass, and may entail gore and provocative messages that challenge the audience’s conventional perception of social standards” (Pérez-Sobrino, 2016, p. 260). It deliberately startles the audience by graphic or explicit content, oftentimes offending people because of its violating some norms of imagery, social values or personal ideals (cf. Dahl et al., 2003, p. 268). Shockvertising (a portmanteau word combining ‘shock’ and ‘advertising’) renders unusual combinations of elements in odd scenarios in order to attract audiences to a certain brand or to bring awareness to a certain public service issue, health issue, or cause. (…) Common topics in shockvertising are, according to Waller (2004), urging drivers to use their seatbelts, promoting STD [sexually-transmitted diseases] prevention, bringing awareness of racism and other injustices, or discouraging smoking among teens. (Pérez-Sobrino, 2016, p. 258)

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This type of advertising, as the very name suggests, needs to be shocking, that is, cause a feeling of surprise and dismay, indignation or even disgust; it does not follow mainstream marketing instructions and thus may potentially have a greater communicative impact due to its undeniable force (cf. Pérez-Sobrino, 2016). Nonetheless, its aggressive dimension, so to speak, may startle, frighten or even repel some members of the audience, which explains why not all the ads intended to bring awareness to certain problems resort to shockvertising practices. Unlike typical shockvertisements, most non-commercial ads that present different types of crisis are usually far from subscribing to what one could label as discourse of fear. Instead of startling the audience, they opt for subtler means of informing the public opinion, making use of symbols or associations to raise people’s awareness. In spite of the fact that they are less radical in their form, they still contribute in no small way to making people realise that the world faces certain problems and, thus, to setting social and political agendas. Thanks to inventive, interesting, and thoughtprovoking visuals and multimodal constructions, non-commercial ads can be very appealing because the pictorial combined with the textual allows for many possible meaning operations to be performed by the perceiver who decodes the message. Discourse is more than talk and writing; it is a way of talking and writing. To regulate discourse is to impose a set of formal or informal rules about what can be said, how it can be said, and who can say what to whom. (…) Inasmuch as language is the principal means by which we express, manage, and conjure emotions, to regulate discourse is to regulate emotion. The ultimate consequence is a regulation of action (…). (Schwalbe et al., 2000, pp. 433–434)

Following this line of thought, the discourse of non-commercial advertising, too, is aimed at influencing how people feel about certain issues, for if one regulates the emotions of the audience, he can change their actions in the long run. The major impact of the discourse of crisis is not to promote fear, but rather a sense of danger and difficulty that, nonetheless, can be managed and countered if only people act. This call to action is an important aspect of non-commercial ads because it constitutes a direct request or exhortation as a result of which the audience will be encouraged to do something, or at least acknowledge that there is a problem. Therefore, noncommercial ads can serve as a persuasive means of social engineering (cf. Kozłowska, 2011) since they do not overwhelm the audience with fear, but rather make them feel certain emotions that will make them consider the problems and/or take action. Non-commercial advertising is an unusual type of advertising due to its important social functions such as teaching, bringing up, shaping desirable attitudes, as well as creating dominant values. (…) It is a socially useful creation and, at the same time, a perfect tool in the hands of those who try to influence the social reality in a positive way.1 (Tyszka, 2013, p. 9)

Such ads can serve as social actors that define specific situations as crises and make people notice the said phenomena. For example, domestic violence against men or rape of males were long considered inexistent topics since, historically and culturally, 1

The author’s free translation from Polish.

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they were defined as and thought to be crimes committed solely against women. These problems were not highlighted in the past because they carried unconceivable social stigmas and aroused denigrations of masculinity but, nowadays, social campaigns touch upon these issues and make people acknowledge these problems. The fact that non-commercial ads are, in fact, reactions to different crises makes them invaluable tools in voicing doubts concerning the world and in shaping societies. They contribute to social, cultural or environmental agendas that can potentially change the way people think of particular phenomena. Moreover, they constitute potent weapons of influence thanks to the principle of social proof (cf. Cialdini, 2007). It states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct. The principle applies especially to the way we decide what constitutes correct behaviour. We view a behaviour as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it. (Cialdini, 2007, p. 116)

What follows from this excerpt is that people generally tend to imitate the behavioural patterns adopted by others, which, in fact, makes it easier for advertisers to influence the audience since it is enough to persuade a small number of initiators so as to influence the imitators who may constitute as much as 95% of the consumer base (Cialdini, 2007, p. 118). Considered from the standpoint of social sciences, the ideological aspects of one’s life acquire a new dimension when shared with other people. An idea may become the cement that holds individuals together, “contributes to the formation of a group identity, and provides the basis for communicating a worldview to others” (Charteris-Black, 2011, p. 22). This ideological aspect can be very powerful, for it provides “(…) an organised and systematic representation of the world (…)” (Charteris-Black, 2011, pp. 21–22) about which people can agree and, according to the principle of social proof, “the greater the number of people who find any idea correct, the more the idea will be correct” (Cialdini, 2007, p. 128). In such a way, one by one, people can be influenced by social campaigns if they internalise the ideas promoted (e.g., being eco-friendly) and, with time, a set of beliefs and values can be accepted by whole societies as the ultimate standard.

4 The Topic of Crisis in Selected Ads—Analysis In order to explore the topic of crisis in specific examples of multimodal print ads, the author of this paper used the internet archive of the creative advertising community Ads of the World™ (2019). She typed the word ‘crisis’ in the archive’s browser, yet because of the fact that her search results had to be limited to a manageable sample of homogenous ads, she decided to focus on one medium only and opted for print ads. Thus, having narrowed the search to print ads only, 56 results were obtained. Chart 1 shows the percentage of different types of crisis in the sample of multimodal print ads matching the search term ‘crisis’ that were retrieved from www.adsofthew orld.com.

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commercial ads mental health health equality environment war politics charity food quality

Chart 1 The percentage of different types of crisis in the sample retrieved from Ads of the World™ (2019)

As follows from the chart, commercial ads constituted as much as 43% of the whole sample; they often developed the theme of economic crisis (oil crisis and speculative bubble crisis included), some featured the theme of midlife crisis or contained the word crisis itself in order to catch people’s attention. For instance, the ad for Domino’s Pizza made use of two juxtaposed images of a motorbike and a moped with respective captions: “Midlife Crisis” and “Midnight Crisis;” the said side-by-side images make the perceiver think of a man that buys a motorbike once hit by midlife crisis and, by association, of a pizza guy who usually drives a moped to deliver food. This reading of the ad stands corroboration since the body copy reads: “Delivery until 4 am,” thus suggesting that one can always count on Domino’s if hungry. Reverting to the subject matter, though, 57% of the ads in the sample consisted of non-commercial ads. The topic of mental health crisis was covered in 14% of the ads; these dealt with different shades thereof, e.g., with the veterans crisis, helplines for the lonely, and helplines for the victims of domestic and sexual violence. 11% of the ads sampled referred to health; then followed non-commercial ads promoting equality that scored 9%. Next were advertisements touching upon the issue of environmental problems (7%), politics (5%), and war (5%), with some examples referring directly to the current migration crisis. Although marginal, some examples dealt with charitable organisations that help the poor and the homeless (4%), and as few as 2% of the ads considered were concerned with the issue of food quality. Given their low incidence, these will not be included in the analysis since they would not prove expedient here. Although it is impossible to discuss all the ads featuring the theme of crisis in its numerous forms, some notable examples will be discussed below in order to show

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various representations of crisis and highlight the sociocultural impact such ads may have on their recipients. To achieve this goal, a brief qualitative analysis of several multimodal print ads will follow.

4.1 Health Crisis Starting with the topic of health crisis, the crisis of authority, and the collapse of trust in health institutions, the ad for Daman Health Insurance Specialists shows the picture of ice cream sprinkled with pills instead of sprinkles. The slogan says: “Don’t treat yourself to antibiotics,” while the body copy further clarifies the purpose of the ad, as it says: “The self-prescription of antibiotics has led to a global crisis more threatening than even AIDS, says the World Health Organisation.” By addressing the problem of self-prescription of medicines, the ad warns people that a global crisis is going to arise soon and push the entire world back to the Dark Ages once bacteria mutate and become immune to antibiotics, thus making basic infections fatal again. Though the present paper was being prepared before the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020, one cannot help but think of this tragic turn of events in this context. In the times when everyone thinks he is an expert when it comes to health problems, the overconsumption of antibiotics, compared to candies thanks to the figure of replacement used in the ad, has become a serious problem that threatens the whole world. Before the Internet era, it was easier for trusted authorities to mediate the information that was disseminated to the public but now self-proclaimed healers from the Internet tarnish the reputation of doctors and, hence, endanger the lives of others by means of harmful pseudo-therapies, self-prescription of antibiotics included. The ad discussed here tries to show that pills are not candies and that a severe health crisis looms for the whole world if people fail to change their habits.

4.2 Equality Crisis Next is the example of the fight for equality as manifested in the ad for the United Way organisation, whose mission consists in creating a global network of non-profit fundraising initiatives to advance the common good across various communities. The ad shows a close-up of an elderly man with a walking stick. The cane itself is unusual, though, because it is not made of wood or metal but of many small representations of people standing on the shoulders of other people and supporting each other so as to form the said cane. The rhetoric of the image seems easy to grasp and makes the message behind this ad very evocative. Thanks to the visual metaphor, it can be said that their help, strength, and cooperation support the old man; this interpretation is further enhanced by the caption, which reads as follows: “Together, we can help people in times of crisis.”

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The prime objective of the ad is to show that the elderly should be looked after and given right support to safeguard their wellbeing. Nowadays, various aging initiatives are concerned with the fight for equal treatment and good living conditions and against any manifestations of ageism. Nonetheless, the situation of seniors in the society still leaves a lot to be desired. In spite of the fact that many societies consider themselves progressive and inclusive, they tend to forget about the ones who helped to build the world they live in before the new generations took up the baton. Many western countries are now ageing societies, yet they actually do not deliver equality to all people, irrespective of their age. The ad directs the audience’s attention to disparity of treatment, sensitising them to the importance of mutual support, as well as encouraging them to make an impact and help to build a stronger, more connected society in which people help each other and care for each other, including seniors. After all, everyone eventually becomes old.

4.3 Environmental Crisis Another issue to be mentioned here is the one connected with the environmental crisis, especially with the overuse of plastic that pollutes the oceans. The series of ads for Greenpeace entitled “Straws Suck” shows various representatives of sea life choking on plastic, for example, a plastic straw stuck in the gull’s throat accompanied by the slogan: “Don’t suck the life from our oceans.” The way in which the elements are pictured in the ad indicates the figure of juxtaposition (two side-by-side images of the gull and the straw), whereas the cognitive processing required in order to understand it is the operation of connection. Though one typically associates straws with sucking a drink from a glass and not necessarily with sucking life from living beings, connection seems obvious by association. The long-standing “tradition” of using plastic containers, cups, and straws shows that people are addicted to single-use or disposable plastic. As a result, the planet is drowning in plastic pollution because plastic waste is accumulated not only in the landfills, but, sadly, in the natural environment as well. The ad was designed so as to show people what they are doing to nature with their myopic attitude to consumption and with their inefficient recycling methods that endanger many species. Such campaigns are aimed at raising awareness and prompting businesses and individuals alike to rethink their straw usage and plastic usage in general with a view to resolving the plastic pollution crisis.

4.4 War-Related Crisis Last but not least, pertaining to war-related crisis and, specifically, to the refugee crisis is the ad by Der Tagesspiegel; it shows a pile of Der Tagesspiegel newspapers, on the front page of which one can see an article on the refugee crisis and the photo

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that shows a boat filled with refugees. Yet the pile of the same issue of the paper makes the boat appear larger and larger, as multiple layers of the same fragment of a photo partially overlap. The visual structure of the ad is based on the juxtaposition of many fragments of the photo. Comparison for similarity, on the other hand, makes the audience associate the growing width of the boat with more people in it. Evocative as the image may be, the textual is not absent from the ad; there is a slogan that reads: “The migrant crisis. How much do we really have to cope with?” and a short body copy that adds: “The discussion. This week in DER TAGESSPIEGEL.” The slogan renders the ad even more dramatic, as the question posed seems really difficult and powerful. The topic of the migrant crisis addressed in this ad is very complex and can be interpreted in several ways, chiefly because of the fact that the ad is a commercial one, for a change; the goal of the ad is to show the growing numbers of people who were forced from their homes by conflict, violence, and poverty, risking everything to escape. However, the question “How much do we really have to cope with?” opens space for two possible interpretations related to two perspectives, namely that of migrants themselves and that of the host countries. The former reading suggests taking action in order to help migrants enter Europe legally or, alternatively, to end the war and thus stop forced displacement so that refugees could return home. The latter, on the other hand, is connected with the economic outcomes the massive influx of migrants can have on the European countries; many people think that refugees will become a burden to the European society since many of them are not asylum seekers but economic migrants or even social-transfers seekers. This crisis is a twosided coin and one cannot really be sure which interpretation of the ad was the one intended by the advertiser. One is certain, however: the ad certainly speaks on an important topic and stresses the presence of a serious crisis, whichever perspective adopted.

5 Conclusions All things considered, showing the aforementioned examples of multimodal print ads matching the search term ‘crisis’ has shown that the topic of crisis in advertising discourse has many faces. Ads featuring various crises work towards conveying ideas and educating the audience, at promoting certain behaviours and condemning others with a view to preventing unstable and dangerous situations from deteriorating even more. In this way, advertising does not remain at the level of its obvious function that consists in increasing the sale of products since it offers so much more; it can lead to the modification of individual and collective consciousness, and even to the construction of completely new states of social reality because this type of advertising sells behavioural and lifestyle patterns, as well as makes people sensitive to important problems. It needs to be stressed that the results herein presented do not reflect the state of affairs in terms of non-commercial advertising in general; rather, the analysis

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conducted was intended to present a random sample of ads referring to various crises that were retrieved from a specific website, namely from www.adsoftheworld.com. It was observed that almost all the ads sampled were multimodal in their construction and that they made use of eye-catching, appealing, and thought-provoking visuals. Although equally important when it comes to conveying the final meaning, the textual forms in the ads considered were not that attractive since their function was to clarify the purpose of the advertising messages. The multimodal form was therefore based on a two-step model in which the perceiver is first faced with appealing visuals which are supposed to draw his attention; once his attention is turned to the picture, the textual offers further explanation and elaborates on the issue depicted. Exploring the ways in which various realisations of the topic of crisis are constructed in ads can clarify how advertising influences public perceptions of specific phenomena. Data analysis has shown that mental and physical health are the most popular topics, perhaps because these two are considered so fragile nowadays owing to constant pressure, abuse, and stress people are threatened with; many ads in the sample promoted various helplines in order to encourage people to share their problems with others and get help. Then followed the promotion of equality, which may suggest that social campaigns which deal with this specific topic may still be needed to make the society more inclusive. Next were non-commercial ads addressing environmental issues, for example those protesting against the overconsumption of energy or dumping tons of plastic in the oceans. The mission of such ads is to bring awareness to the damage done by the consumerist culture that cares only about the needs of humans, thus completely forgetting about the frailty of ecosystems. Diminishing the negative impact civilisation has had on the environment can, nonetheless, be as impossible as facing the aftermath of war, which constitutes another crisis situation mentioned. Slaughter, famine, and violence the armed conflict carries are crises incarnate whose long-term consequences, such as migration crises, are not easier to overcome than the war itself. Non-commercial social ads would not dwell on all these topics if they were not viewed as serious problems of the modern world. Having discussed some of the ads chosen for the purpose of this study, one can conclude that the crises herein mentioned are, in fact, various realisations of the crisis of consciousness, for it is the lack of awareness that causes them. Ignorance when it comes to health, both mental and physical, the lack of openness and discrimination against specific groups, irresponsiveness to one’s surroundings—these and more are responsible for the crises the world is facing. In view of the aforementioned observations, one can say that the social aspect of non-commercial advertising is essential when it comes to highlighting problems and fashioning the society so as to make it better. Citing Dumitrescu (2016), “today, advertising is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating social phenomena, a fundamental factor influencing individuals, attitudes or lifestyles. It is an important element of contemporary culture, deeply anchored in our cultural heritage” (Dumitrescu, 2016, p. 48). It has evolved into a form of social discourse of great rhetorical force (cf. Beasley & Danesi, 2002) that serves as a signpost that can guide people away from making the same mistakes again. This sociocultural perspective is particularly interesting because of the “(…) dynamic interplay between advertising and changing modalities of social lifestyle,

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whereby one influences the other through a constant synergy” (Beasley & Danesi, 2002, pp. 15–16). One could ask: why is that advertising sets out to talk about a crisis of consciousness, such as the crisis of equality, for instance, and not just the lack of it? One possible answer to this question is that non-commercial advertising needs to put a crisis label on a given phenomenon in order to identify it clearly and stress its importance. If something does not exist, it is just absent but when something is said to be wrong, there is a possibility to act and make it right. Pinpointing a particular issue as the cause of plight is crucial to the identification and acknowledgement of its existence, which, in turn, may serve as a starting point to tackle the problem. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the scope of a given crisis and the potential range of its effect and implications (cf. Meyer, 2017), that is, to delineate the crisis in order for the message to be clear. Let us end this discussion with one more ad, i.e., the one by mettiamocilatesta.it against creativity crisis, so to speak, that was entitled “Don’t cut a dream.” The ad was part of a web-based campaign that was supposed to speak against the decrease of advertising investments during the economic crisis (Ads of the World™, 2019) but, when it comes to its form, it can be considered drastic, as it shows the cut-off head of dead Santa Claus. His white beard is covered with blood and there is a label attached “Claus Santa. Dream Developer,” which constitutes a clear reference to his giving presents to children and making dreams come true. The caption reads as follows: “Creativity is that extra bit of magic that can turn communication into a dream. And there is no crisis that can justify the killing of a dream” (Ads of the World™, 2019). Just like one cannot kill Santa in order not to destroy the world of dreams, one cannot destroy advertising that has become part and parcel of the world as we know it. To the author’s mind, the said ad is what advertising is about; it is all about creative communication that has this unique power to both reflect and construct sociocultural values (Goddard, 1998). By confronting the audience with different crises, either explicitly or implicitly, non-commercial ads make people face contemporary nightmares of the world and encourage them to take these warnings to heart so that the problems are solved, the pain is alleviated, and the world is repaired. And in spite of the fact that humanity is still very far from such an idealistic scenario, social campaigns will not stop trying to make this dream come true.

References Ads of the World™ (2019). Part of the Clio network. Retrieved April 30, 2019, from https://www. adsoftheworld.com Bateman, J. A. (2008). Multimodality and genre: A foundation for the systematic analysis of multimodal documents. Palgrave MacMillan. Beasley, R., & Danesi, M. (2002). Persuasive signs: The semiotics of advertising. Mouton de Gruyter. Bovée, C. L., & Arens, W. F. (1992). Contemporary advertising. Irwin.

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Charteris-Black, J. (2011). Politicians and rhetoric: The persuasive power of metaphor. Palgrave Macmillan. Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence. Harper Collins Publishers. Dahl, D., Frankenberger, K. D., & Manchanda, R. (2003). Does it pay to shock? Reactions to shocking and nonshocking advertising content among university students. Journal of Advertising Research, 43(3), 268–280. Dumitrescu, F. M. (2016). The dimension of the socio-cultural brand of Coca-Cola. Social Sciences and Education Research Review, 3(2), 48–54. Dyer, G. (1982). Advertising as communication. Routledge. Fiske, J. (1990). Introduction to communication studies. Routledge. Goddard, A. (1998). The language of advertising: written texts. Routledge Goldman, R. (1992). Reading ads socially. Routledge. Jay, M. (2002). That visual turn. Journal of Visual Culture, 1(87), 87–92. Kozłowska, A. (2011). Reklama. Techniki perswazyjne. SGH. Laird, P. (1998). Advertising progress: American business and the rise of consumer marketing. Johns Hopkins University Press. Lewi´nski, P. H. (1999). Retoryka reklamy. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego. Meyer, G. (2017). Corporate smokejumper: Crisis management: Tools, tales and techniques. Blue Blaze Books. Mitchell, W. J. T. (2006). What is visual culture? In J. Morra & M. Smith (Eds.), Visual culture: What is visual culture studies? (pp. 298–304). Taylor & Francis. Pérez-Sobrino, P. (2016). Shockvertising: Conceptual interaction patterns as constraints on advertising creativity. Círculo De Linguística Aplicada a La Comunicación, 65, 257–290. Phillips, B. J., & McQuarrie, E. F. (2004). Beyond visual metaphor: A new typology of visual rhetoric in advertising. Marketing Theory, 4, 113–136. Pinar Sanz, J. M. (2015). Multimodality and cognitive linguistics: Introduction. In J. M. Pinar Sanz (Ed.), Multimodality and cognitive linguistics (pp. 1–9). John Benjamins. Rapp, S., & Collins, T. (1987). MaxiMarketing: The new direction in advertising, promotion, and marketing strategy. McGraw-Hill. Schwalbe, M., Godwin, S., Holden, D., Schrock, D., Thompson, S., & Wolkomir, M. (2000). Generic processes in the reproduction of inequality: An interactionist analysis. Social Forces, 79(2), 419–452. Tyszka, E. (2013). Rola reklamy społecznej w propagowaniu prawidłowych zachowa´n i warto´sci rodzinnych. Warmi´nsko-Mazurski Kwartalnik Naukowy, Nauki Społeczne, 2, 9–30. Waller, D. S. (2004). What factors make controversial advertising offensive? A preliminary study. ANZCA 2004 Proceedings, 1–10. Wells, W., Moriarty, S., & Burnett, J. (2006). Advertising: Principles and practice. Prentice Hall.

Anna Stwora obtained her Ph.D. from the Institute of Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities of the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. She is also a Ph.D. student in linguistics at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Her research interests revolve around multimodal discourse of advertising and broadly conceived humour studies. She is also interested in specialised registers, cognitivism, communication studies, and contrastive linguistics. In 2020, she took up a post as editorial assistant at The European Journal of Humour Research and became a member of the board of the Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies.

Human and Space. Images of Conflict in the Levant Trilogy Project by Rita Leistner Kalina Kukiełko-Rogozinska ´

and Krzysztof Tomanek

Abstract The aim of the article is to present the Levant Trilogy project of the Canadian war photographer Rita Leistner. In the summer of 2006, she left for Lebanon to report on the war between Israel and Hezbollah. She wanted to show the part of the reality of war, which had not been presented to a wider audience by photographers working there. As it turned out, it was only the beginning of an almost ten-year journey to three countries of the Levant: Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. She wanted to meet the “others” and try to understand how conflict is felt on various sides of the border. Leistner was surprised to discover that in each of the countries she visited, she met friendly, open people, who reluctantly told her about their everyday longing for security, autonomy, and peaceful life. While building her visual stories, Leistner was guided by three themes: bombing sites, anti-bomb shelters, and security systems. Analyzing the visual story of Rita, we undertake both an attempt to reconstruct the narrative methods that she used in her works and the interpretation of emotions that are dominant in the published images. Keywords Rita Leistner · War photography · Engaged photography · Conflict in the Levant countries · Qualitative analysis · Photo analysis Rita Leistner, the title character of our article, often says about herself that she is an artist engaged above all socially and politically. Indeed, in her works, this worldknown Canadian photojournalist most often addresses the topics, which most fully illustrate the captivating entanglement of the individual’s life into a wider social and political context. Rita’s attempt to answer the question about the essence of humanity in the modern world can be found not only on the photographs she took, but also in her articles, books or social media activities. “… varied career has taken her from Translated by Artur Skweres. K. Kukiełko-Rogozi´nska (B) University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland e-mail: [email protected] K. Tomanek Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_6

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academia to war and back again. Intersecting the genres of art, photojournalism and literary criticism, Rita is above all interested in what makes us human” (Ryerson.ca, 2015). This is the first of many arguments, suggesting that her work is an important voice in the discourse on what currently makes us human and about the deepening crisis of humanism nowadays. This voice often does not need words, as the means of expression that Rita uses the most is photography. For more than twenty years, she traveled the world and described armed conflicts, including the ones in Iraq, Iran, Cambodia, and Afghanistan. She presented the life of soldiers involved in military operations and the everyday life of civilians who bear their onerous consequences. The artist talks to the heroes of her photos in order to understand what they are trying to cope with, what makes their lives fall apart. The death of loved ones, the loss of the family home, the daily fear of an air raid and death show the conflict between the life worthy of a person living in the twenty-first century (e.g., a life based on respect, freedom of speech and thought, and freedom of movement), and the kind of life they lead (full of fear, pain, grief; a life where people build bunkers to protect themselves from the world around them). But war is not the only type of conflict Leister talks about. Often, she also presents internal struggles, personal and intimate, which give testimony to the forces that lie dormant in people: drug addicts from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, patients of Baghdad’s al Rashad Psychiatric Hospital or people planting thousands of trees in northern Canada. Both these threads of internal and external struggle are combined in the Levant Trilogy project, which is the main topic of this article. The project concerns both the physical, material space of Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, painfully marked by the eternal war between them, and the personal experiences of the inhabitants of these countries. In the first part of our text, we will present the artist’s figure, a synthetic description of the conflict in the Levant countries and the concept of the project. In the second part, a description of the results of the analysis of photographs taken as part of the Levant Trilogy will be provided, as well as an attempt will be made to capture the emotions presented in the photographs.

1 More Than a Thousand Words The work of Rita Leistner, which, as we have already mentioned, the artist describes as socially and politically involved, is based primarily on the direct experience of the surrounding reality. Direct participation in events allows for the establishment of firsthand accounts, which often turn out to be the most valuable for recipients. This applies in particular to the work related to documenting the life of the community, which for various reasons found themselves in a new, unusual situation and often have to deal with extreme conditions. What is also important is what happens with the photos after they have been taken: how they are developed, who publishes them and what their coverage is, and also how the author of the picture is responsible for it. Commenting on these issues, Rita says: “I think it’s unethical to take photojournalistic images and not do anything with them, or just use them as portfolio pieces or for entering

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contests. There has to be some kind of sustained effort to make the photographs serve a purpose.” (Leistner & Face, 2016). Hence, photography is much more than just concerned with taking a photo— there are many details that every professional photographer pays attention to during work, while at the same time trying to create his unique professional personality and individual style. Many even risk their own safety to capture a shot that will not only move the viewer as much as possible, but above all will be an account of an eye-witness, giving direct evidence of the events taking place. This approach also characterizes Leistner’s activities: “The first time I photographed a firefight I was shaking so badly that … all my photographs were completely blurred. Before I go into any risky area, I ask myself the following three questions: Why me? Why this? Why now? If I can’t come up with compelling reasons then I won’t go. But if I can, and especially if I am the only one there, then I think I have a responsibility to go. The Internet and the smartphone have rendered the act of bearing witness almost universally accessible so there are fewer reasons for specially designated photographers to simply bear witness. But showing up as an outsider is an important act of solidarity. That human presence of a few professional journalists (foreign and local) on the ground can go a long way, to say nothing of the importance of the infrastructure and codes of ethics and professionalism that trained photojournalists bring to a story” (Leistner & Face, 2016). The artist started her professional occupation with photography late, at the age of thirty. Born and raised in Scarborough, Canada, she graduated in comparative literature at the University of Toronto, where at the end of the eighties she defended her master’s degree in French and English literature. After studying for six years, she worked in the film industry, as a specialist in lighting. Chauvinism prevailing in this environment, however, prompted her to give up this occupation and go to Cambodia, where she lived for a year and a half. It was there that she first took a job as a photojournalist. When she realized that she needed to expand her skills, which she had learned so far, she went to New York to the prestigious International Center for Photography, where she first came across Cornella Capa’s concept of “engaged photography.” Since then, her interest has focused on the unobvious but eye-catching topics: American wrestlers, patients in a psychiatric hospital in the war-ravaged Iraq capital, addicts living in an abandoned hotel in suburban Vancouver (McBride, 2010). But despite numerous artistic achievements, awards, exhibitions, publications in prestigious magazines, Leistner did not have a sense of satisfaction. She was tired of struggling for tasks from the editorial office, which always paid too little for the risk taken. This has heightened the growing sense of personal crisis. “I have many nights crying, frustrated, tired and lonely” (McBride, 2010). It is the moment in life when Leistner experiences an emotional and moral crisis. It is caused by many acts of the conflict that she encountered on her way. The war revealed not only the apparent powerlessness of the photographer faced with the tragedy, but above all the bestiality of people towards other people, suffering for which no one is prepared. It showed situations in which conflict is, unfortunately, an inalienable element of interpersonal relations.

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The solution to this situation was a return to the hometown and the position of lecturer in history of photojournalism and documentary history at the University of Toronto. The change in the pace of life, and above all the transition from the permanent risk of war photography to the more steady artistic photography, allowed her to change her creative perspective. “As a freelancer without affiliations to any particular news outlet, I am not under pressure to create dramatic Front Page photographs of daily spot news events. The way I see it, my job is to find the stories in between and on the side of the main events—history’s luminal moments. These become pieces in the bigger puzzle drawn by all the players in the theatre of war: civilians, journalists, military personnel, NGO and agency workers, artists, writers, etc. Freelancers also have a luxury many staffers don’t have: time. Without an imminent job back home, the freelancer is free to stay and probe for longer, even when the headline news has died down. This is particularly the case in the aftermath of a major conflict” (Leistner, 2014). Rita Leistner’s Levant Trilogy project discusses the consequences of the conflict between Israel, Palestine and Lebanon hidden behind the main events.

2 Pain Between the Nations Leistner decided to deal with the events in the Levant countries, when in July 2006 she learned about the next attack of Israel on Lebanon: “I was in Toronto […] when I first heard that Israel had bombed the runways at Beirut’s Rafic Hairi International Airport in response to Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers—an action by ‘the Party of God,’ designed to provoke a new war with their longstanding enemy. A week later I was in Damascus with my friend … Daniel Barry. We rented a minivan and drove along endless stretches of bombed-out roads toward South Lebanon, the site of some of the most punishing bombing campaigns of the war. By early August, Israel had announced that it would consider any vehicles south of the Litani River to be a military target. This drastically limited all journalists’ mobility and therefore our ability to document the war. Nonetheless, many of us stayed in the south, along with those Lebanese unable or without the means to flee to the relative safety of the north” (Leistner, 2014). Hezbollah, which for decades functioned as a non-state, secret military organization (in 2018—already as a political party—it won the majority in the Lebanese parliament), was created primarily as a response to the Israeli presence in Lebanon. The bloody provocations imposed on the Israelis, from 1982, were one of the main pillars of his activity. It is not surprising, therefore, that the kidnapping of soldiers was the igniting spark of yet another armed conflict that led to the razing of a large part of Lebanon to the ground. Rita without hesitation decided to report on this war, and her goal was to show the dimension of reality, which until now was not presented by photographers working there: the situation of civilians in the bombed areas. Already on the spot, she understood that Hezbollah, however strong and ruthless, was just one player in Israel’s game in the Middle East. The political, economic, religious and cultural interests of this country exert influence not only on Lebanon, but above all

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on Palestine and Palestinians. By the decision of the General Assembly of the United Nations of 1947, Palestine was divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state, which in essence meant the confiscation of part of the Palestinian state and the expulsion and expropriation of the existing inhabitants of the seized areas. Contrary to the UN Resolution, Israel took over military control in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and also usurped the right to recognize Jerusalem as its capital. For more than fifty years, therefore, an uneven, brutal struggle between these nations has been taking place, embarrassing the international community. We have got used to the uneasy scenes of armed Israeli soldiers standing in front of Palestinian boys throwing stones at them. The violent Palestinian reaction stems from years of suppressed anger and disappointed hopes. And the Israeli response is ruthless: Palestinian cities are surrounded, the territories are closed, and the negotiations are broken (Cohn-Sherbok & El-Alami, 2008). Is there any chance to resolve this conflict? Theoretically yes, but it requires several conditions to be met. Above all, every participant in the dispute must recognize that Israel has the right to exist. Because since more than a hundred years, which have passed since the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which spoke of the need to establish the seat of the Jewish people, the Arabs have not accepted it. The official establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 became a contributing factor for the transformation of the Jewish–Arab conflict in Palestine into the Israeli-Arab conflict, which covered the area of the entire Middle East, and especially the neighboring Lebanon. Similarly, the Jewish nation, both in Israel and the diaspora, must recognize the Palestinians’ aspiration to own their homeland, which would require economic and cultural support from the Arab countries. The matter of the Holy Land, from which the Palestinians were practically displaced, should also be settled. One solution could be to create a bi-national, Arab–Jewish state, but recent decades have shown that Israelis and Palestinians are unable to live together. Martin Bunton notes that the conflict between Israel and Palestine, despite a very extensive context, boils down to fighting for territory, physical space and the right to occupy it. According to the Canadian historian, we are dealing here with contemporary territorial competition: two nations that are fighting for the same land. Two nations that live in daily conflict, the threat of bombs, the threat of having one’s sense of security and the freedom of the individual violated. This situation shows the reason why contemporary humanism allows the concept of conflict to be included in its definition. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict includes many threads, but none of them has the same meaning as the issue of the division of territory. In general, the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians has ancient and religious roots. And in fact the most important obstacle standing in the way of resolving this conflict is in the consensus on setting boundaries (Bunton, 2013). It was the question of this territory and the human presence on it that became the leitmotif of Rita Leistner’s journey lasting almost ten years and spanned three countries of the Levant.

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3 The Neighbors Moved by the situation in the Middle East, the artist decided to get to know the inhabitants of the conflicting countries and try to understand how this dispute is felt on different sides of the border. She was surprised to discover that in each of the countries she had visited, she met friendly, open people, who reluctantly told her about everyday longing for security, autonomy and peaceful life. But the stories about the neighbors on the other side of the border were not that friendly anymore. On the other side of the wall lives an “enemy,” an “alien” who raises anxiety and fear. Someone who threatens them with death. In Leistner’s story, a human becomes a victim of another human’s actions. The conflict between the morality of the victim and the morality of the attacker becomes one—though not explicitly stated—of the leitmotifs of the stories about the fate of war victims. The starting point of this story, as has already been mentioned above, were the pictures of the areas that were the reason and the place of the bloodshed. The fate of people who were in some way connected with her was part of this material space: they visited the rubble that used to be their home, created a military control system, or built a safe haven. Every modern war has images that characterize it: “… the nineteenth century battlefields of the Crimean War and the American Civil War; Robert Capa and Gerda Taro’s portraits of Spanish Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War; the jungle warfare of Vietnam; the desert camouflaged American soldiers in Iraq and their counterparts, hooded Iraqi detainees In Lebanon in the summer of 2006 it was images of civilians amidst the rubble of the massive bombing devastation. Many emotional and dramatic headline images were made: stunned and delirious victims in shock emerging from the rubble; mothers in emotional agony carrying dead infants crushed by collapsing buildings. On the one side there were these close-up portraits of suffering where you couldn’t get a good perspective on the context; on the other side there were wide shots of bombed out villages where human figures were tiny specs in the distance” (Leistner, 2014). After the raids were over, people quickly tried to find a way to return to life in the new reality. Those who had escaped earlier in search of a safer place were coming back to see the remains of their homes and save what survived. They were looking for signs of a previous life. Unfortunately, the destruction was often so large that they could not even determine the place where their house once stood. Also no previous landmarks remained, such as a gas station or a school building. The former residence was no longer something friendly and familiar, and the inhabitants felt like strangers on their own land. In Lebanon, as later in Israel, Rita made a series of diptychs depicting a specific place and a formal portrait of people, who were somehow connected with it. “By photographing the landscape and the portrait separately, I could give them equal value and, importantly, equal size in the frame. The landscapes would show the broad context of the bombings and the extent of the devastation. The portraits would be full-frontal shots, with the subjects lit with portable strobes, formally composed and engaging with the camera: confronting the viewer with the ‘I’ in their ‘eyes.’ All the portraits were made in situ— in the archaeological sense that everyone was photographed in the place where I first

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met them—so that the portraits would also serve as unmanipulated records of a moment in time” (Leistner, 2014). The way in which portraits are created is of great importance, referring to studio photography rather than journalism. In contrast to traditionally understood photojournalism, which favors natural, non-posed portraits, Leistner has used the awareness of being photographed as an important element of the visual construction of the image. The protagonists of the pictures look at the camera, but they also know that at the same time someone is looking at them. This look, which allows eye contact with someone on the other side, can often express more than the whole figure. “Photographs of subjects in heightened states of emotion can sometimes have the unintended, ironic effect of distancing and alienating viewers, who cannot identify with emotions so far from their own states of mind. Like Edvard Munch’s The Scream, the emotion is too terrifying to look at. I photographed my subjects in the aftermath, when they’d had time to compose themselves. The result is that viewers can identify more easily with them—they can to some extent imagine: This could be me. At the same time, the very restraint of emotion, juxtaposed with the unrestrained violence and devastation of the landscape has the overall effect of heightening the impact of the work” (Leistner, 2014). What is more, the diptych itself is, according to Rita, an important element in the construction of the message. It is a kind of man-made infrastructure, a narrative building tool that uses a combination of both images to create tension and dialogue, both inside and outside the frame. The combination of these images creates a new quality, but at the same time, they also remain somewhat independent of each other.1 Photographs taken in Palestine have a different construction—they are not diptychs, but wide, panoramic shots, usually taken from a distance. People look like they have appeared on them by accident, they are distant points, or smudged objects only resembling the outline of a human figure. The main hero here is the infrastructure of violence: guard towers, barbed wire, cameras, patrols of armed soldiers, or the wall separating the territory of Hebron (in 2004 declared illegal by the International Court of Justice). These are images that reflect the psychological and emotional burden resulting from life under constant observation and at the gunpoint of a machine gun.

4 Project: Into the Conflict Ultimately, the Levant Trilogy project was composed of three parts, namely the landscapes of bombed Lebanon (Bombed Landscapes: Lebanon 2006), images of anti-bomb shelters in Israel (Sheltered Landscapes: Israel 2012), and places under surveillance in Palestine (Surveilled Landscapes: Palestine (The West Bank) 2015). Each stage of the project had its main theme: bombed landscapes, bomb shelters, and supervised areas. These three elements of the story told by Leistner are repeated 1

The photographs can be viewed on the artist’s website http://ritaleistner.com/project-levant-tri logy/.

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in each of the geopolitical landscapes visited by the author. Difficulties in their placement in visual art, deciphering their meaning and influence result from several reasons. They are as follows: the complexity of the relationship between the heroes of the story and the places in which they find themselves (in particular, what the places look like after war), the complexity of the political situation in the region, and more generally, the complexity of reality, which is the background for the story analyzed here. Fewer problems, as Rita Leistner argues, result from the low complexity or even “simplicity of photography.” As Leistner writes: “Visual art is not as complex as the real world. It is an effort to create order so that a story can be told. Without some kind of imposed order there is no story or art at all. There will be those who are unhappy with this work, unhappy with how these people or those people are portrayed. I spent thousands of hours traveling and talking with strangers. These photographs and the short film Miklat are the result of those engagements and conversations.” (Leistner, 2016). In the search for points of consistency and the differences that appear in the stories presented by Rita, we attempted to decompose the story contained in the photographs. The results obtained in this way were arranged in order to support the process of identifying key elements of the story (man, weapon, death, regret) and the relationship between them (crisis of humanism, conflict, threat to freedom and the sense of security).

5 Our Home Was Here In the first series of analyzed photographs (Bombed Landscapes: Lebanon 2006), there are two permanent elements present in each of the images. They are: a portrait presenting the inhabitant of Lebanon and a place that is a rubble—it is probably the place where the protagonist in the picture lived. The exception in this story is the image of a soldier and the accompanying “orderly, sterile and safe” landscape of armored cars of the European Union. The guiding principle of this analysis is the relationship of a human being with an emotionally difficult background for him or her, and more specifically with the effect of events that the hero had to go through. In the story of Bombed, the structure of the relationship between the elements of the story includes a comparison of the main form of the picture with the landscape in which it functions and the interpreted “other” hero of the story, who is not physically present in the picture. The representation of such a story is, for example, a photo of Susan Kasim and her daughters Malak and Fatima. The protagonists of the story stand on the terrace of their completely ruined apartment in Haret-Hreik. The hero of this diptych is Mahmoud, Susan’s husband. The couple met in an air-raid shelter in the building where their apartment was located. This took place during the Israeli invasion in 1982. The Kasim family is one of the few who returned to the bombed suburbs after the war which devastated Lebanon. The heroes of this story returned with the hope of residing in their home, finding their belongings and savings, which they left in a hurry to leave the city. The family did not expect their apartment to be

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ruined. The return of families to their places of residence was above all emotional. Attachment to family homes was an important, if not the most important reason for the inhabitants of Haret-Hreik, Nabatiyeh, Aitra-Ech, and Daahia to return to their homes. During the invasion, not everyone wanted to leave the place where they grew up. Seventy-nine-year-old Fatima Taher hid under a fig tree in her garden during the raids. She expected death and preferred to die in a place of her choice. As she recalls, “Je me suis dit que je préférais mourir sous un arbre que d’etre ramassée par les bulldozers dans les décombres de ma maison”2 (Leistner, 2014). The relationships described here consist of three main elements: a human (hero), another human (somehow related to the hero), and the landscape. The main character of the story, usually a lonely figure (sometimes surrounded by friends or family) is a man who is characterized by polar emotions, such as self-confidence, willingness to act, hope, determination, peace, distance, but also humility, shyness, despair and lack of hope. The landscape can trigger an attitude in heroes, which on the one hand induces humility, distance, peace (which may be the effect of reflection following events that took place during war operations), but on the other hand, it may arouse the willingness to act (reconstruction of reality in which the characters live). Meanwhile, the attitude towards “another man” seems to be characterized by a different range of emotions. The longing is visible in this context (the figure with the downcast head, turned away from the lens, maybe waiting for the return of a loved one, maybe wanting to experience what he feels in isolation outside the area in the frame, perhaps reflecting and wanting to be alone). The pictures often present families in which probably only women remain (two pictures present women without the physical presence of men, in one of the pictures we see portraits of men who can be supposed to have lived earlier in the photographed place). In both pictures, however, peace and resignation to one’s fate dominate. Both are also characterized by the strength of women, visible in their stances which show their mutual support, being together in difficult times. Such an attitude seems to emanate with strength and trust.

6 Looking for the Shelter Images of anti-bomb shelters in Israel (Sheltered Landscapes: Israel 2012), like the Lebanese story, use a combination of two themes. They are: a human (together with family and friends) and a building, which acts as a bomb shelter. The latter element can cause disparate emotions. Namely, from a sense of danger (resulting from the reason for which it was erected) to a sense of security (the purpose for which it was created). In this story, most shelters have also become more than just a functional building, as they are also the space of art. They are decorated with the symbols of: summer, spring, nature, and fairy-tale carefreeness. Thanks to the development 2

“I told myself that I’d rather die under a tree than have bulldozers dug me out of the rubble of my house later.”.

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of the walls of the bunkers, they have become objects that raise additional, good associations. However, the four shelters in this story do not have decorations, they are in a raw state. One is covered with soil, hidden under moss and grass, making it look like a small hillock. It is located at the edge of the forest, in a place that looks like an abandoned corner of the world. Its owner gives the impression of waiting in the bitter cold. He gives the impression of a calm man, showing reserve. The three shelters remained in their original form, surrounded by walls of stones or greenery. Despite the aforementioned (raw) form, the images on which they are presented still radiate optimism. One shows flourishing poppies at the feet of the photographed person, the second portrays a happy family, the third is filled with the image of an “artist” whose appearance (the color of the clothes, make-up) is associated with joy and satisfaction. The presence of a donkey on the last of the pictures may also arouse guesses aimed at irony, freedom—the lightness of being, unusual customs. Relations between characters and objects that form the context of the Sheltered story can also be represented by three main objects: a human, nature and culture (physically present in the form of an architectural object, which is a shelter and the accompanying instrumentation). Relationships between identified poles can be described by interpreting the emotions and the context in which they are observed in the pictures. The main characters in the Sheltered story are: a human, a threat, and a sense of security. The shelter is located in this triad as a symbol that releases a series of associations, but it is also a space in which a human deconstructs the threat in an attempt to “become accustomed” to it emotionally. This is the role of flowers, the sun, the image of Winnie the Pooh flying on a balloon. Nature also plays an important role in this story. It becomes a “cover,” a camouflage for shelters, is an inspiration for the heroes, it is symbolically presented in the paintings decorating the walls of shelters. By integrating the shelters in the surroundings of nature, through the forms of the “wise man” on one of the last photographs and the “artist” with a donkey, there arises an impression of consistency of emotions and associations. All elements of the story (the shelter, nature and the man who is the culprit of this juxtaposition) seem to emanate a positive mood despite the threat to their everyday life. The conflict, though almost non-existent due to the creative activity of the characters, seems inalienable in this story and is omnipresent in the pictures.

7 On the Other Side of the Wall The third part of the trilogy talks about the places under supervision in Palestine (Surveilled Landscapes: Palestine (The West Bank) 2015). Leistner’s paintings show the street next to the prison and the everyday traffic, hills outside the city, a warning sign informing about the threat connected with entering the Palestinian village, the city outskirts, marked by a wall (reminiscent of the Berlin Wall), intra-city borders or the border crossing outside the city.

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It seems that Surveilled’s main character is space. Sometimes it is presented by means of an urban area, where daily traffic takes place, sometimes it is the outskirts of the city, where we do not see any hero in human form. In space, border points are presented, which: warn (the aforementioned sign), isolate (symbolic meaning of the wall), but also become an area where emotions are expressed (paintings on the walls). The space in Rita Leistner’s photographs seems to be also a symbol of freedom (an example of such an association may be the space outside the city juxtaposed with a man in a turban, who enriches the story with a gesture of his hand). The wall— between the space of everyday life and the space controlled by armed soldiers— becomes in the story a symbol of the border between everyday peace and violence. The wall is the border of a conflict in which life under constant observation and under the control of a machine gun is intertwined with freedom. When no person appears in the pictures, the main character becomes the space in which border points, such as sniper turrets and signs warning about the danger of trespassing their territory become the symbol of the conflict. The wall is also a symbol of isolation here. The space outside the city symbolizes freedom, the one in the city surrounded by barbed wire and surveillance speaks of slavery. This conflict becomes another hero of the story told by Leistner.

8 Summary Levant Trilogy, one of many photographic projects by Rita Leistner, is an interesting example of a socially and politically engaged work. Its purpose is not to satisfy the aesthetic needs of the viewers (although of course the aesthetic values are also an essential element of this story), but to cause certain intellectual confusion, which may lead to a change in the situation, which is unfavorable for the characters. The pictures that make up this trilogy also show the fluid and conventional nature of the boundary between what is reality and what is art, between what freedom and supervision symbolize. Simple, posed shots resemble studio portraits that are detached from everyday life, but at the same time they are based on strong, real emotions resulting from the ubiquitous and multidimensional conflict in the story. Already presented in this article, cursory analysis of photographs of the Levant Trilogy identifies key elements of the composition and their mutual relations: the main figure of the image, the territory, as well as the “other” present outside of the picture. The spaces between them are filled with emotions that are ultimately the most important component of the story. What is more important for Leistner is not only the contact with the photographed object and taking the picture, but also how the moment captured in it will interact with its recipients. “The photographer is the interface, the first point of contact between the subject and whoever sees the photograph later. The engagement between the subject and the photographer lasts for a short time; the actual clicking of the shutter for only a tiny fraction of a second. The photograph, however, is lasting and permanent (even as it’s projected on a computer screen). It has a life beyond the moment when it was

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taken. It becomes the conduit or mediator in place of the photographer, between the recorded gaze and viewer’s return gaze. … The viewer of the future, in another place, brings their living gaze to meet the subject’s photographed gaze. … The viewer of the future, in another place, brings their living gaze to meet the subject’s photographed gaze. It is in a state of perpetual, reciprocal flux. The viewer negotiates the fragile border between the real and the represented, between the past and the present” (Leistner, 2014). This contact, which the artist considers so important, exists between the characters immortalized in the photographs and the viewers, restoring them in a certain way to “life,” but it also has a significant Polish theme in the case of Levant Trilogy. All parts of the trilogy were shown together for the first time at the Łód´z Fotofestiwal in 2016 (Fotofestiwal.com, 2016). We want to emphasize the fact that one of the key elements of Leistner’s story is not the artist’s participation in events, but the observation of the world she talks about, sensing the emotions of the heroes of the story (people in their everyday struggles). The multitude of stimuli contained in Leistner’s photographs presents a wealth of accompanying insights and emotions, as well as dilemmas, which she encounters. They are a rich testimony of a someone entangled in a multidimensional situation in which human needs (security and freedom, to mention some of the most important ones) and experiences (regret, pain, need for peace) meet. The intertwining of these conflicting elements is both a contribution to her story (the reason why Leistner tells the stories of her heroes) and their effect (we see the emotions of the heroes and the conflicts in which they are involved). Rita Leistner’s visual stories are based on conflicts important to every human being (good-evil, security-threat, enemy-friend). The author of the photos looks for a solution to these dilemmas by showing the world what violence leads to. She shows the state in which the war leaves its victims. Leistner’s visual storytelling is multidimensional and we can return to it many times to discover new emotions, conflicts and meanings, which were previously “hidden” in it.

References Bunton, M. (2013). The Palestinian-Israeli conflict: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. Cohn-Sherbok, D., & El-Alami D. (2008). The Palestine-Israeli Conflict: A beginner’s guide. Oneworld Publication. Fotofestiwal.com (2016). Rita Leistner. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from http://www.fotofestiwal.com/ 2016/rita-leistner/ Leistner, R. (2014, June 26). Portraitscape of war. In Eye of photography (par. 1–22). https://loeild elaphotographie.com/en/?s=Rita+Leistner Leistner, R. & Face (2016). Rita Leistner award-winning photojournalist. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from https://www.battleface.com/face/rita-leistner/ Leistner, R. (2016). Levant trilogy. http://ritaleistner.com/project-levant-trilogy/

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McBride, J. (2010, Winter). Look Closely! University of Toronto Magazine. http://magazine.uto ronto.ca/feature/photojournalist-rita-leistner-photos-of-native-communities/nggallery/image/7photos-by-rita-leistner/ Ryerson.ca (2015). Converge lecture series: Rita Leistner. https://www.ryerson.ca/fcad/news-eve nts/fcad-events/IMA/

Kalina Kukiełko-Rogozinska, ´ is a Ph.D., adjunct at the Institute of Sociology, University of Szczecin; author of the book Mi˛edzy nauk˛a a sztuk˛a. Teoria i praktyka artystyczna w uj˛eciu Marshalla McLuhana which was awarded The Pierre Savard Award in 2016; scientific editor of the first Polish translation of The Gutenberg Galaxy by Marshall McLuhan (2017), recognized by the Polish Sociological Association as the best translation of last year (2018); Visiting Scholar at Concordia University of Edmonton, Canada (2019). Her newest book Współczesna wojna na fotografiach Rity Leistner [Contemporary war in Rita Leistner’s photographs] was published in 2021. Krzysztof Tomanek, is a Ph.D., adjunct at the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University; graduated in sociology from the University of Szczecin and completed his PhD studies at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Focused on the Qualitative as well as on Quantitative research and data analysis. Specializes in methodology focused on text mining, linguistic analytics and CAQDAS. Cofounder of CAQDAS TM Lab at Jagiellonian University that organizes workshops and spreads knowledge on data analytics.

The Influence of the Feeling of Crisis and Anxiety on High School Students’ Oral Performance Jagoda Mikołajewska

Abstract The way learners communicate is affected by different variables. One of these factors is anxiety which can be influenced by a feeling of crisis (and vice versa). In educational context, anxiety and crisis can be analyzed from the perspective of a personal crisis as well as anxiety crisis. Anxiety and crisis occur in various forms, which can be destructive, helpful, temporary, permanent, etc. A form of anxiety may be dependent on affective factors, such as: risk-taking, tolerance of ambiguity, self-esteem, one’s own beliefs, willingness to communicate, culture shock as well as competitiveness. Moreover, the way nearly all students perform can also be subordinated to individual factors. As a result, all of the learners’ interactions are affected by emotions as well as the classroom environment. It can be noticed in their behavior while an interaction takes place, but also in the quantity and quality of the language they produce. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to discuss the salient theoretical aspects connected to the crisis caused by anxiety concerning oral performance. Its purpose is also to present the gathered results of the study which was conducted in order to measure how high school learners’ anxiety and anxiety crisis impacts oral performance. Keywords Crisis · Personal crisis · Anxiety · Anxiety crisis · Oral performance

1 Introduction Anxiety and crisis appear frequently amid learners of various ages. They are complex phenomena that are difficult to be described, explained and defined briefly because they are very unfavorable emotions. They appear in dissimilar situations as well as under numerous conditions. First of all, anxiety and crisis are the feelings which are accompanied by inner confusion. Furthermore, anxiety together with the feeling of crisis are emotions which are characterized by worry and uneasiness, frequently unfocused but also described J. Mikołajewska (B) Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n, Pozna´n, Poland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_7

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as overreacting to a moment that is subjectively perceived as very threatening (Stavrakaki & Lunsky, 2007). Crisis can be connected to the notion of psychological stress which in turn relates to a suspenseful and stressful experience (Bundy et al., 2016). It takes place in a moment when a system (for instance: economy, society, family, etc.) functions poorly (Boin et al., 2018). In order to stop the disfunction of the system, immediate steps have to be taken. Since the reasons for the disintegration may not be recognized, it can be troublesome to overcome the problem. According to Seeger et al., (1998, pp. 231–275) a crisis situation can create uncertainty, cause surprise, threaten one’s vital goals, and trigger “the need for change.” A human crisis takes place when one is no longer able to handle a difficult situation, which is predated by extreme stress and tension (Lanceley, 2003). In order to defeat crisis, people tend to resort to certain coping mechanisms which include: considering the problem, crying, withdrawal, outbursts, taking action, relieving tension, or “putting things on hold” (Grinspun, n.d., p. 53). Adapting to the new circumstances may cause numerous difficulties for people in crisis. Suffering individuals would be helped by a social support system, which would encompass people, who are trusted, respected, and liked by a person in crisis, for instance: teachers, friends, family, health professionals, classmates, or coworkers. (The Importance of Having a Support System, 2020). Moreover, recognizing the signs that an individual experiences an internal conflict would aid the one in a crisis. Such symptoms include: being unable to solve problems and overcome negative emotions, having problems with attention span, and being unwilling to communicate (Lanceley, 2003). According to Brammer’s crisis theory (1985), crisis may take the form of a situational crisis (which stems from external situations that cause psychological imbalance of an individual), the existential crisis (which results from internal feelings that are subjectively experienced or perceived), and the developmental crisis (also known as a maturational crisis, which takes place when developmental situations involve a role change). Not counteracting the crisis fosters its development. Caplan’s Phases of Crisis Development (1964, as cited in Nugent et al., 2012) divide it into four stages: being exposed to the stressor (which simultaneously causes the anxiety to grow as coping behavior do not help resolve the problem), feeling no relief as former problem-solving and coping strategies fail to work (using dysfunctional coping skills takes place because a high degree of anxiousness inhibits problem solving), being mobilized by internal and external factors to resolve the problem and to moderate the uneasiness caused by the stressor (anxiety approaches panic when coping behavior is no longer effective), and being overwhelmed by anxiety as the absence of crisis resolution leads to personality disorganization, self-destructive tendencies as well as violence. According to Horwitz (2013), anxiety is placed in the brain. Hence, it may be claimed that it causes a number of disorders, containing depression and stress, which often contribute to the feeling of crisis and fear. Moreover, a person suffering from anxiousness and crisis does not always manifest or present emotions or feelings, but usually it can be perceivable in his or her behavior (Horwitz, 2013). Nevertheless, it may happen that a person is not conscious that anxiety and the feeling of crisis involve his or her unwillingness of doing certain activities but also cause particular body

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responses which accompany the feelings of crisis and anxiety physically, for example: breathing problems, chest and throat tightening, heart palpitations, bellyaches. Worth mentioning is also the fact that the way one feels anxious may be triggered, for instance, by culture and society (Horwitz, 2013), as well as by class environment (Horwitz et al., 1986) It is a very complex notion and it comprises different sorts which are mandatory to be described while mentioning anxiety. The division is dependent on what type of effect anxiety brings, whether it is harmful or beneficial, as well as when it takes place—temporarily or permanently and in what sorts of situations (noncommunicative or communicative), as well as what feelings accompany individuals. Anxiety does not occur alone and its severity is dependent on vulnerability to various affective factors. The type and power of anxiety is impacted by tolerance of ambiguity, self-esteem, risk-taking, competitiveness, willingness to communicate, beliefs, as well as culture shock (Oxford, 1992). Anxiety and crisis can be noticed among learners characterized by self-esteem inhibition and non-existence of risk taking in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Consequently, feelings of uneasiness, worry, self-doubt, apprehension and frustration take place (Oxford, 1999), mostly when a learner is anticipated to perform in a Second Language (L2). Moreover, experiencing anxiety when performing in L2 is not only caused by general performance anxiety but by the particular situation (Oxford, 1999). On this score, it is more usual for individuals to give up particular tasks than to continue and fulfill them. What is more, the author (Oxford, 1999, pp. 58–67) indicates that “language anxiety ranks high among factors influencing language learning, regardless of whether the setting is informal (for example learning language ‘on the street’) or formal (for example in the classroom).” Therefore, the feelings of anxiety and crisis can be perceivable outside and inside a class. Hence, in accordance with Ellis (1994), anxiety is the key factor that affects SLA. Discussing the impact of the feeling of crisis and anxiety on high school learners’ oral performance, it is indispensable to elaborate on the concept of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). According to Dakowska (2007), this method improves and refines traditional approaches. Thus, the CLT should be described as a worthwhile idea of teaching L2 because of not focusing on theoretical facets of a given language but on pragmatic ones. As a consequence, this method fosters students’ communication skills. In order to elaborate the performance concept, its relation to an idea of competence should be presented. According to Chomsky (1965, p. 4), linguistic competence can be defined as “the speaker-hearer’s knowledge of his language.” The author indicates that this is a perfect system of every language which facilitates an individual to produce as well as to understand various utterances in a particular language in order to distinguish between grammatically correct sentences and ungrammatical ones (Chomsky, 1965, 1995). What is more, the concept of linguistic competence is as crucial as linguistic performance while studying and teaching a language since it affects exploiting the knowledge of L2. The differentiation between linguistic performance and competence may not be well understood, therefore, performance could be interchangeably named “actual communication” (Oxford, 1999, pp. 58–67).

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Chomsky’s aim was not to characterize utterances of a foreign language community members, but a set of principles thanks to which the sentence is formed (Komorowska, 1978). As a result, Chomsky (1965, p. 4) refers to linguistic performance as “the actual use of language in concrete situations.” Linguistic performance involves speech production but also speech comprehension—the former one in encoding and producing speech while the latter one in decoding and receiving speech (Reishaan & Taha, 2008). Finally, Chomsky (1965) mentions that only while a particular situation is idealised as well as while a speaker-hearer is unaffected by memory limitations or inattention, can such performance be seen as a clear reflection of a student’s competence. In summary, linguistic performance indicates an application of linguistic awareness in practice. As a personal crisis has its developmental stages, it can be stated that anxiety may reach its peak or crisis as well. When fear, panic, worry, anxiety, a feeling of imminent danger, or a feeling of isolation are intensified as well as happen too frequently, it is a sign that a person may suffer from anxiety crisis (Glass, 2020). In order to recognize anxiety crisis, it has to be ascertained whether intense fatigue and panic attacks take place (Glass, 2020; Arikan, n.d.). The causes that trigger the crisis of anxiety can be: genetic inheritance (genetic predisposition), overprotective education (inability to solve problems because the individual always had someone to decide for him or her), dramatic and stressful events (leading to extreme nervousness), catastrophic personality (having existential thoughts that are catastrophic) (TherapyChat, 2019). Anxiety crisis may also be caused by an individual’s need to face the disfunction of natural psychological needs, for instance: a sense of belonging, having purpose and meaning in life, being valued by others, or having a stable future (Hari, 2018). On the other hand, being controlled or having no autonomy at work or school may lead to health problems and consequently anxiety crisis (Hari, 2018). As Troup (n.d.) demonstrated, such feelings may result in the sense of losing control and even lead to experiencing symptoms resembling a heart attack. When facing anxiety crisis, a person may experience a feeling that something wrong is going to occur (Troup, n.d.). Furthermore, the author elaborates on the types of anxiety crisis: the generalized anxiety disorder (being excessively anxious and concerned about a series of situations), obsessive compulsive disorder (having uncontrolled, repetitive thoughts of real-life concerns and violence, which can be called obsessions), panic disorder (having repeated and immediate fear attacks that last for several minutes), or social anxiety disorder (being afraid of negative social evaluation, feeling unwell in the company of unknown people, experiencing new situations) (Troup, n.d.). The successfulness of language students’ oral performance is dependent on both individual and non-individual factors. It is to the individual factors that the feeling of crisis and anxiety are related, like in the case of autonomy, motivation, intelligence, stress, extroversion, and introversion. On the other hand, non-individual factors are related to the received feedback, teachers’ role, as well as the overall assessment. These variables are equally essential and impact L2 students’ oral performance. The students’ approach towards performance seems to be an important aspect which contributes to the advancement of L2 learners’ communicative skills. The factors have an impact on the L2 learner’s success while they are using L2.

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2 Research The objective of the study was to explore the impact of high school learners’ anxiousness on oral performance. Furthermore, the study took into consideration the individuals’ behavior together with reactions while the mock oral Matura exam took place.

2.1 Research Questions The study aimed at answering the following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

What is the impact of anxiety on the quality of language? What is the impact of anxiety on the quantity of language? What is the impact of the task on language performance? How do previous experiences in foreign language performance impact anxiety? What is the impact of anxiety crisis on a student during English classes?

2.2 Participants The research group included twenty learners of a second class of a Polish high school—ten seventeen-year-old boys, ten seventeen-year-old girls. Their English classes level was intermediate as well as the students have an intermediate knowledge of L2. The English lessons are held six times in a week and the learners have an opportunity to use L2 out of the class. The book’s name which was used during classes is Matura Exam 2015. Compendium—the elementary level and the advanced level, printed by Macmillan. Moreover, the study was monitored by an impartial teacher-observer and the teacher of the class whose function was to watch learners’ behavior while the mock oral exam took place. The teachers were a man and a woman with Master’s degrees who work in different schools. The man’s teaching experience is nine years, whereas the woman’s is seven years.

2.3 Research Instruments The study included the combination of qualitative and quantitative research. The two data collection methods were involved—closed techniques (questionnaires) and open techniques (observation sheets, interview). The investigation is described as a descriptive research which contains empirical studies (experimental and observable) due to which different sorts of observations or examinations could be conducted (for which particular questionnaires and observation sheets were composed). The purpose

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of using mixed approaches was to render a broader insight into items impacting anxiety in the target group as well as simultaneously to gather concrete, statistical data during the mock oral Matura exam. The instruments included: teachers-observers questionnaires verifying the students’ behaviors, their emotional intensity throughout the conversation, as well as the quantity and the quality of the L2. Moreover, two students’ questionnaires were used; the first, verifying their feelings, was completed by the examinees when the exam ended; the second was based on Horwitz’s FLCAS, whose idea was to examine how prior experiences in L2 performance impact the feeling of anxiety. The final instrument was the interview with the teachers-observers and the examiner about their observations of students’ anxiety crisis since they began to work as English teachers. The interview was conducted when the mock oral Matura exam was completed. The provided answers were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.

2.4 Research Procedure The study consisted of a few parts. The first part occurred when learners were passing the Matura examination. The set used during the exam is called “The exemplary English Matura Exam”, published by Pearson. All the mock exams were recorded. Afterwards, the students were requested to discuss exercises together with the examinant (the dialogues) but also to describe the presented picture. After that the examinees were asked to answer three questions relating to the exam subject. The idea of choosing two different sorts of activities was to observe how learners will react while having a conversation with the teacher as well as what types of emotions aroused and declined during the oral exam. Concurrently to the examination taking place, the class teacher and the teacher-observer filled in the surveys. The concept of the questionnaire was to use a scale (from 0 to 4) to note the frequency of a student’s emotionality (restlessness, fidgeting, problems with concentration, blushing, stammering, sweating, trembling, losing eye contact, shortness of breath, agitation, nervousness, worry, emotionality, intense concentration). In the next part of the research, the observers had to indicate on a scale the degree of emotional intensity (low or medium or high) in each minute of the learner’s exam. The final part of the teachers’ questionnaire was to check the quality (low or medium or high) of the discourse features (simple and short sentences, complexity of sentences, richness of vocabulary, common vocabulary, sophisticated vocabulary, pronunciation, complexity of grammar, accuracy, fluency, and the extent of the discourse). The succeeding step in the study was to complete the questionnaires by the students after the mock exam. The individuals were asked to indicate on a 0–4 scale (a Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”) whether the statements 1–49 are true for them or not as well as to answer question no. 50 in as much detail as possible. The final part of the research were interviews with the teachers-observers and the examiner about their observations of students’ anxiety crisis since they began their

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work as English teachers. The interviewees were asked to describe such learners, describing their characteristics as well as elaborating on how to help them. Thanks to answers to the questions, it was possible to get responses to 3 out of 5 research questions: “[w]hat is the impact of anxiety on the quality of language?”, “[w]hat is the impact of anxiety on the quantity of language?”, “[w]hat is the impact of the task in language performance?” The answer to the fourth question: “[h]ow do previous experiences in foreign language performance impact anxiety?” is obtained from the Horwitz’s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). The students were asked to indicate again on the 0–4 scale (a Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”) whether the given statements are true for them or not. The answer to the last question: “[w]hat is the impact of anxiety crisis on a student during English classes?” was received from interviews with the teachers-observers and the examiner. The teachers’ questionnaires were given to them before the oral exam, however, their interviews took place after all the students were examined. The learners’ surveys were distributed when the mock oral exam was finished and collected upon their completion. All the results were counted and are shown in the tables below. All of the scores were averaged. The presented numbers next to the questioned items represent the magnitude of agreement with all the statements of the teachers who took part in the study but also the learners of the high school.

2.5 Research Results It can be noticed from the Table 1 that teachers indicated learners as emotional (an average 3.1 for boys, 3.3 for girls) while the exam was taken. What is more, several types of emotions and behavior accompanied the L2 students. The most perceivable emotion was the feeling of nervousness. In that case, the boys were less nervous (2.6) than the girls (2.9). Another noted behavior was agitation. The results reveal that it related to the girls to a bit lower extent (3.4) than to the boys (3.5). The least observed behavior was trembling because it concerned the whole research group to a low degree (0.4) but also shortness of breath (0.7 boys, 0.8 girls). According to the gathered data, emotions affect learners’ oral performance, which can be observed in the way they behave. Table 1 presents the results concerning the behavior and observed emotions during the oral examination. In the next part of the teachers-observers’ questionnaire, they noticed that emotions were mostly constant and, what is worth stressing, that emotions were more stable among boys than among girls. Lastly, it should be mentioned that emotions subsided in certain students as the exam progressed. The examinees expressed the preference for talking on their own during picture description rather than engaging in a dialogue with the examiner (Table 2). In the following section of the teachers-observers’ questionnaire, they were asked to rank the discourse’s complexity. According to Table 3, the most perceivable dimensions of the boys’ performances were: pronunciation, fluency, and accuracy. In terms

96 Table 1 The frequency of L2 students’ emotions and behavior during the mock oral Matura exam according to the observers

Table 2 The extent (level) of emotional intensity in each minute of the oral exam according to the observers

J. Mikołajewska Students’ emotions

Average grade girls Average grade boys

1. Restlessness

2.9

2.7

2. Problems with concentration

1.6

1.2

3. Fidgeting

2.8

2.3

4. Blushing

2.4

2.1

5. Sweating

1.9

2.4

6. Stammering

2.1

1.8

7. Losing eye contact

2.4

2.2

8. Trembling

0.4

0.4

9. Shortness of breath

0.8

0.7

10. Worry

1.7

1.6

11. Agitation

3.4

3.5

12. Nervousness

2.9

2.6

13. Intense concentration

0.7

1.1

14. Emotionality

3.3

3.1

Minute Emotional intensity of the Emotional intensity of the girls boys 1

High

High

2

High

High

3

High

High

4

High

High

5

High

High

6

High

Medium

7

Medium

Medium

of girls, the most noticeable variables were: grammar complexity, accuracy, and common vocabulary. In the majority of the facets concerning the discourse features, the boys received better scores than the girls. The reason why it occurred could be the fact that girls were more nervous than the boys. Sophisticated, rich vocabulary and the length of utterance were noted to be on an average level, and in this case girls performed similarly to boys. The following stage of the research was a students’ questionnaire about their feelings about the exam. The learners were asked to fill in the survey with 0–4 grades (whether they “strongly disagree” or “agree” with the given statements). It may be identified from the Table 4 that the participants indicated nervousness as a frequent

The Influence of the Feeling of Crisis … Table 3 The extent of the discourse features according to the observers

97

Features of discourse

Girls

Boys

Complexity of sentences

Low

Medium

Simple and short sentences

High

Medium

Richness of vocabulary

Medium

Medium

Sophisticated vocabulary

Medium

Medium

Common vocabulary

High

Medium

Complexity of grammar

Medium–high

Medium

Fluency

Medium

Medium–high

Pronunciation

Medium

Medium–high

Accuracy

High

High

Extent of the discourse

Medium

Medium

Table 4 Frequency of students’ emotions during the mock oral Matura exam according to the students Students’ emotions according to the students

Average grade girls Average grade boys

1. I was restless

3.2

2.9

2. I had problems with concentration

1.3

0.8

3. I was fidgeting

3.4

3.2

4. I was blushing

3.1

2.4

5. I was sweating

1.9

2.1

6. I was stammering

2.8

2.2

7. I was losing the eye contact with the examiner

2.1

1.9

8. I trembled

0.7

0.2

9. I felt short of breath

0.6

0.2

10. I was worried

1.1

0.9

11. I felt agitation

3.6

3.4

12. I felt nervous

3.4

3.0

13. I was intensely concentrated

0.9

0.4

14. I was very emotional

2.8

2.3

15. I felt that emotions increased as the exam progressed

0.0

0.0

16. I felt that emotions were constant during the exam

3.6

3.8

17. I felt that emotions subsided as the exam progressed

0.4

0.2

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emotion (the boys an average 3.0, the girls an average 3.4) while the exam was taken; moreover, there were particular sorts of emotions and behavior that accompanied them. One of the most noted emotions is agitation. In that case, the boys experienced less agitation (3.4) than the girls (3.6). Another type of behavior that was noticed was a feeling of restlessness. It contributed to the boys to a lower extent (2.9) than to the girls (3.3). The least remarked behavior was the shortness of breath due to the fact that it regarded all learners to a low degree (the girls 0.6, the boys 0.2) but also trembling (the girls 0.7, the boys 0.2). According to the data, emotions affect learners’ oral performance, which can be observed in their behavior. Furthermore, all of the emotions coincide with the gathered scores of the teachers-observers to a huge degree. Worth noticing right here is that the students indicated that their extent of emotions was constant while they were taking the exam. Only a small number of all the members of the research group stated that the emotions decreased as the exam progressed. Table 4 presents the results of noticed behaviors and emotions during the exam. Questions 18–27 from the learners’ questionnaire covered inquiries related to the extent of the discourse’s complexity. In accordance with Table 5, girls indicated that during most of their exams, the discourse was characterized by the following features: exhausting the topic, complex grammar, and accuracy; in case of boys the distinctive features were: proper pronunciation, exhausting the topic, and accuracy. In the majority of features girls appear to perform worse than boys, but girls tend to be more capable of grammar issues than boys. The following part of the students’ questionnaire was dependent on answering the questions which related to the extent of feelings before but also after the oral exam. The highest scores were observed in questions no. 28—I am relaxed now (the boys 3.7, the girls 3.3) together with the question no. 38—I expected how I would perform (the boys 3.7, the girls 3.4). It has to be stated that the girls were prepared better before the oral exam (score 2.8) than the boys (score 2.1). Furthermore, both the girls and Table 5 The extent of the discourse features according to the learners Features of the discourse

Girls

Boys

18. I feel that I used complex sentences

1.7

2.4

19. I feel that I used simple and short sentences

3.3

2.2

20. I feel that I used rich vocabulary

2.7

3.2

21. I feel that I used sophisticated vocabulary

2.2

2.3

22. I feel that I used common vocabulary

3.1

2.6

23. I feel that I used complex grammar

3.6

3.2

24. I feel that I was fluent

3.0

3.1

25. I feel that I used proper pronunciation

3.3

3.4

26. I feel that I was accurate

3.6

3.7

27. I feel that I exhausted the topic

3.7

3.8

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the boys tend to be not nervous while asking for a paraphrase or repetition. The participants do not feel worried about performing in front of the examiner (Table 6). The last but one part of the study was to collect the data of how prior experiences impact anxiety on the basis of the Horwitz’s FLCAS. This particular instrument measures 3 aspects of anxiety—Communication Apprehension (questions no.: 1, I4, I9, I14, I15, I18, I24, I27, I29, I30, I32); Test Anxiety (questions no.: 3, I5, I6, I8, I10, I11, I12, I16, I17, I20, I21, I22, I25, I26, I28); as well as Fear of Negative Evaluation (questions no.: 2, I7, I13, I19, I23, I31, I33). The average score of FLCAS in the 3 mentioned aspects amounts to below 2 (the girls 1.94, the boys 1.79). It proves that the students are of a moderate-low anxiety level but, the girls are scarcely more anxious than the boys (Communication Apprehension—the girls: 2.10, the boys: 1.96; Test Anxiety—the girls: 1.92, the boys: 1.77; Fear of Negative Evaluation—the girls: 1.73, the boys: 1.64). The results indicate that the students are anxious to a great extent in terms of Communication Apprehension and the least anxious in Fear of Negative Evaluation. It should be noticed that questions no. 14 and no. 22 equal over 2.5, which indicates that during these types of situations learners experience anxiety the most. Table 7 presents the results. Table 6 The extent of the students’ emotions before as well as after the exam Students’ emotions before as well as after the exam

Average grade girls Average grade boys

28. I am relaxed now

3.3

3.7

29. I prepared well before the exam

2.8

2.1

30. I was unprepared on purpose. I decided to improvise

1.2

1.9

31. I am dissatisfied with how I performed

1.4

0.9

32. I was worried before the exam

1.9

1.4

33. Asking for repetition and paraphrasing made me 0.4 nervous

0.1

34. I did not understand the teacher because I was stressed

0.6

0.2

35. Not knowing what aspects are going to be discussed affects my self-esteem

3.1

2.4

36. If I have an opportunity to write what I want to say, I will not write anything. It will be easier just to say it

0.7

1.5

37. I was confident that I will perform well

2.9

3.4

38. I expected how well I would perform

3.4

3.7

39. I worry when I have to perform in front of the teacher

0.8

0.6

40. I felt anxious during an exam because I was not prepared

2.4

1.9

41. I lost concentration during an exam

1.1

0.7

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Table 7 The impact of previous experience on anxiety Anxious situations

Boys Girls

1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my foreign language class

2.3

2.5

2. I don’t worry about making mistakes in language class

2.1

2.3

3. I tremble when I know that I’m going to be called on in language class

1.4

1.6

4. It frightens me when I don’t understand what the teacher is saying in a foreign language

1.8

1.9

5. It wouldn’t bother me at all to take more foreign language classes

1.6

1.6

6. During language class, I find myself thinking about things that have nothing to do with the course

1.7

1.9

7. I keep thinking that the other students are better at languages than I am

1.7

2.0

8. I am usually at ease during tests in my language class

2.2

2.1

9. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in language class

2.0

2.3

10. I worry about the consequences of failing my foreign language class

2.1

2.1

11. I don’t understand why some people get so upset over foreign language classes 2.1

2.2

12. In language class, I can get so nervous I forget things I know

2.1

2.3

13. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my language class

1.0

1.2

14. I would not be nervous speaking the foreign language with native speakers

2.6

2.6

15. I get upset when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting

1.9

1.9

16. Even if I am well prepared for language class, I feel anxious about it

1.7

1.9

17. I often feel like not going to my language class

1.9

2.2

18. I feel confident when I speak in the foreign language class

2.2

2.2

19. I am afraid that my language teacher is ready to correct every mistake I make

1.7

1.4

20. I can feel my heart pounding when I’m going to be called on in language class 1.6

1.8

21. The more I study for a language test, the more confused I get

0.9

1.1

22. I don’t feel pressure to prepare very well for language class

2.7

2.6

23. I always feel that the other students speak the foreign language better than I do 1.9

1.8

24. I feel very self-conscious about speaking the foreign language in front of other 1.5 students

1.7

25. Language class moves so quickly I worry about getting left behind

1.3

1.6

26. I feel more tense and nervous in my language class than in my other classes

1.7

1.9

27. I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my language class

2.0

2.0

28. When I’m on my way to language class, I feel very sure and relaxed

1.6

1.9

29. I get nervous when I don’t understand every word the language teacher says

1.2

1.7

30. I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you have to learn to speak a foreign language

2.0

2.1

31. I am afraid that the other students will laugh at me when I speak the foreign language

1.1

1.2

32. I would probably feel comfortable around native speakers of the foreign language

2.1

2.3

(continued)

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Table 7 (continued) Anxious situations

Boys Girls

33. I get nervous when the language teacher asks questions which I haven’t prepared in advance

2.0

2.2

The final part of the research constituted interviews with the teachers-observers and with the examiner about the influence of anxiety crisis on a learner during English classes. Teachers agreed that during their teaching career they taught certain students suffering from personal crises and observed more general anxiety than anxiety crisis among their pupils. Anxiety crisis was usually noticed amid teenage learners suffering from personal crises who had mental and family problems, and were unsuccessful in classes. They were characterized by being afraid of participating in and talking during lessons, avoiding eye contact, not talking to classmates. The learners had a tendency to feel physically unwell, they experienced headaches, bellyaches, sweating, and panic attacks. The male teacher-observer indicates that such students should be treated less strictly and in an individual way. They should be offered teacher’s help and be allowed to work at their own pace. The female teacherobserver adds that the learners experiencing anxiety crises are tough in terms of having a teacher-learner rapport. However, it sometimes happens that such pupils are more open to a teacher than to friends and then the teacher becomes the person with whom an individual suffering from anxiety crisis wants to talk. What is more, students tend to isolate themselves and be unwilling to seek help. In such situations, a teacher should exercise caution, may talk to the student’s parents or try to encourage him or her to meet with a school psychologist. What is more, the examiner notes the fact that the classmates should be informed by the teacher that the particular students face anxiety problems to prevent them from being bullied, allowing them to gain their peers’ respect and understanding.

2.6 Research Discussion In accordance with the gathered data, the examined research group is moderate-low anxious. In the majority of the measured aspects the boys received higher scores than the girls. The most perceivable were: being nervous, being emotional, agitation. On the other hand, the least noticeable were: being short of breath together with trembling. Emotions experienced during the exam were usually constant but certain individuals felt much more comfortable as well as simultaneously less emotional while describing a picture presented by the teacher. Hence, learners prefer performing alone to interacting with any interlocutors. Nearly the whole research group admitted that the topic was exhausted by them. The boys were accurate, fluent, but also had correct pronunciation. The girls used complex grammar, common vocabulary and were accurate. What was the least noticed during the mock exam was sophisticated and rich vocabulary. When the exam ended, the learners added that they expected

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how their performance would look but also they were relaxed and not worried by the time interactions with the examiner began. Therefore, FLCAS proved the gathered findings. The results indicate the fact that the examined students are of a moderatelow level of anxiety, however, the girls experience slightly more anxiety than the boys. The study provided data thanks to which it is possible to answer the research questions. The answer to the first question “[w]hat is the impact of anxiety on the quality of language?” (sophisticated vocabulary, complexity of sentences, fluency, complexity of grammar, accuracy, and pronunciation) results from high but also low anxiety amid the participants. Students with high anxiousness have a tendency to feature a certain type of behavior which is characteristic for anxiety, for instance: being restless, fidgeting, having problems with concentration, blushing, stammering, sweating, trembling, losing eye contact, shortness of breath, being agitated, being nervous, worrying, being emotional, and being intensely concentrated. On the other hand, the members of the research group with a low degree of anxiety did not display the mentioned symptoms as frequently as the learners of a low feeling of anxiousness. As a consequence, attitudes of low and high-achievers contribute to decreasing the quality of the L2 but its extent depends on individuals’ anxiety level. The second research question “[w]hat is the impact of anxiety on the quantity of language?” (the discourse extent, and the length of sentences) allows for a clear explanation that L2 students of high anxiousness tended to create an uncomplicated, brief discourse together with simply-constructed utterances and to commit mistakes while the performance took place. What is more, learners with low anxiety are in the habit of creating their oral performance in a more complex way. It has to be mentioned here that the study indicates the evidence that within the research group none of the learners is flawless in terms of fluency as well as accuracy, not only because of the accompanying emotions but due to being intensely concerned. Thanks to the following question, “[w]hat is the impact of the task on language performance?” it can be stated that there is an evidence that nearly all members of the research group had a constant level of emotions, however, learners with a high feeling of anxiousness felt much more comfortable while talking about the picture, which proves that highly-anxious individuals are not very willing to develop the ongoing dialogue with the examiner. However, the learners with low anxiety lead the conversation as if they were in a real-life conversation. Hence, the type of the task impacts students’ anxiety as well as their willingness to communicate. The fourth question “[h]ow do previous experiences in language performance impact anxiety?” was investigated in the third section of the study, which was created on the grounds of Horwitz’s FLCAS. The answer is that the students are usually anxious in terms of Communication Apprehension, which suggests that the prior experience in a L2 classroom makes them frightened of taking part in a real-life conversation. On the other hand, the learners are the least concerned in terms of Fear of Negative Evaluation, they are not bothered about any kinds of judgments. What is more, the learners are anxious in a situation when they are obligated to use L2 in order to communicate with native speakers in class. A similar situation can

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happen when the pupils are supposed to be prepared for L2 classes, as they may feel pressured. The answer to the last question: “[w]hat is the impact of anxiety crisis on a student during English classes?” was obtained due to the interviews with the teachersobservers and the examiner after the mock oral Matura exams. The teachers came to the conclusion that an individual who suffers from anxiety crisis is usually a teenager who feels uncomfortable in the school environment because of fear of lessons, classmates, or a teacher. Such a student should not only be offered help and allowed to work at their own pace, but also be tolerated and understood. The student’s anxiety crisis can be evident in his or her behavior.

2.7 Limitations of the Research The investigation shows representative conclusions. The research group involved twenty high school learners but due to the time limitation, the number of examinees was not extended. Hence, the gathered data could bring certain unknown insights into the study conclusions. Moreover, the research was conducted amid students of intermediate command of the English language. It is highly probable that random learners at various levels of English as L2 can react in a different way than the members of the study group. Thus, it could be worth attempting to arrange the exam for the group of low-achievers as well as to compare them with high-achievers who usually win oral and language competitions. Another idea is to provide interviews or questionnaires among the research group before, during and after the mock oral Matura exam, checking the degree of their personal crisis and anxiety crisis. Furthermore, creating questionnaires of students’ personal background could bring new insights into their experience at times of crisis. To sum up, the study provided certain conclusions which may differ depending on what members the research group consists of. Thus, it would be worth a try to research a study group that would consist only of students with anxiety crises.

3 Conclusion Being in a state of crisis causes difficulties in terms of controlling emotions, adapting to new circumstances, dealing with stressful situations, etc. Overcoming crisis can be troublesome but in order to do this, it would be necessary to identify the signs that are typical for such circumstances. Due to crisis, an individual may no longer be able to deal with a difficult situation that is caused by experiencing stress and tension. But when fear, panic, worry, anxiety, a feeling of imminent danger, and a feeling of isolation are intensified as well as occur too often, a suffering person should be aware that he or she may suffer from anxiety crisis.

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The paper proves that crisis and anxiety, as well as L2 students’ oral performance are interrelated in an English classroom setting. The research indicates that the feeling of anxiety crisis and the feeling of anxiousness impact L2 learner’s general performance in English classes and oral performance during the mock oral Matura exam to a low or a high extent. The degree depends on different variables and stems from the scrutiny of all the instruments which were used in the study. Hence, anxiety crisis and general anxiety have influence on both the quantity as well as the quality of the discourse. What is more, the quantity of the utterances is much shorter in terms of highly-anxious students and the language quality can be poor in that it influences accuracy and fluency. All of the gathered results are confirmed by the findings received thanks to the Horwitz’s FLCAS. It led to a conclusion that the L2 students are not always self-confident when they have to speak and they do not bother about their evaluation. Furthermore, the study demonstrated separate data of the girls and the boys of the research group. The former ones obtained worse results in nearly all of the aspects, which proves that the boys are less prone to feel anxiety. Additionally, the teachers’ perspective on anxiety crisis among L2 students brings a conclusion that students suffering from anxiety crisis exist. The way of treating them should be carefully suited to their problems in order to make them feel comfortable during classes. The role of the teacher, classmates, friends, parents, and a school psychologist is to create the social support system which will help an individual persevere in crisis and trigger “the need for change.” That is why it is crucial to provide the suffering individual with a sense of belonging, having purpose and meaning in life, being valued by others in order to prevent him or her from experiencing anxiety crisis. In accordance with the acquired knowledge, the feeling of anxiousness which is impacted by the feeling of crisis (and vice versa), should be investigated in the future. Both teachers and students should be conscious of such a phenomenon in order to overcome it.

References Arikan, K. (n.d.). Anxiety crisis. Prof. Dr. Kemal Arikan. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https:// www.kemalarikan.com/en/anxiety-crisis.html. Boin, A., Hart, P., & Kuipers, S. (2018). The crisis approach. In H. Rodríguez, W. Donner, & J. Trainor (Eds.), Handbook of disaster research. Handbooks of sociology and social research (pp. 23–38). Springer. Brammer, L. M. (1985). The helping relationship: process and skills (3rd ed.). Prentice-Hall. Bundy, J., Pfarrer, M. D., Short, C. E., & Coombs, W. T. (2016). Crises and crisis management: Integration, interpretation, and research development. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1661–1692. Caplan, G. (1964). Principles of preventive psychiatry. Basic Books. Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. MIT Press. Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. MIT Press. Crisis (n.d.). In Oxford English dictionary. Retrieved June 12, 2019, from https://www.oxfordlea rnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/crisis_1?q=crisis. Dakowska, M. (2007). Teaching English as a foreign language. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.

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Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford University Press. Glass, L. J. (2020, April 3). Coping with an anxiety crisis: How to center yourself. Pivot. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.lovetopivot.com/manage-anxiety-crisis-signs-ease-stress/ Grinspun, D. (n.d.). Crisis intervention. Nursing best practice guideline: Shaping the future of nursing. Sigma Repository. Retrieved June 12, 2019, from https://sigma.nursingrepository.org/ bitstream/handle/10755/335746/Crisis_Intervention.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y Hari, J. (2018, February 19). The rising depression and anxiety crisis with Johann Hari. Youtube. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OAMLR38-AI Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132. Horwitz, A. (2013). A short history. The John Hopkins University Press. Komorowska, H. (1978). Sukces i niepowodzenie w nauce j˛ezyka obcego. Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne. Lanceley, F. J. (2003). On-Scene guide for crisis negotiators (2nd ed.). CRC Press. Nugent, P. M., Green, J. S., Hellmer Saul, M. A., & Pelikan, P. K. (2012). Mosby’s comprehensive review of nursing for the NCLEX-RN examination (20th ed.). Mosby. Oxford, R. (1992). Who are your students? A synthesis of foreign and second language research on individual differences with implications for instructional practice. TESL Canada Journal, 9, 30–49. Oxford, R. (1999). Anxiety and the language learner: New insights. In J. Arnold (Ed.), Affect in language learning (pp. 58–67). Cambridge University Press. Reishaan, A., & Taha, W. A. (2008). The Relationship between competence and performance: Towards a comprehensive TG grammar. Adab Al—Kufa Journal, 1(2), 37–38. Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (1998). Communication, organization, and crisis. Communication Yearbook, 21, 231–275. Stavrakaki, C., & Lunsky, Y. (2007). Depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders in people with intellectual disabilities. In N. Bouras, & G. Holt (Eds.), Psychiatric and behavioral disorders in intellectual and developmental disabilities (2nd ed., pp. 118–120). Cambridge University Press. The Importance of Having a Support System (2020, August 6). Mental Health First Aid USA. Retrieved August 8, 2020, from https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/2020/08/the-importanceof-having-a-support-system/ TherapyChat (2019, December 11). What is an anxiety attack. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://therapychat.com/en-gb/what-is-an-anxiety-attack/ Troup, C. (n.d.). Anxiety crisis: Types, causes, symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment. Scope Heal. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from https://scopeheal.com/anxiety-crisis/

Jagoda Mikołajewska, M.A., is a teacher at the Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts of Adam Mickiewicz University in Kalisz. Her research interests center around learner personality, anxiety, willingness to communicate, flow, and engagement. In particular, she investigates the influence of anxiety on students’ oral performance as well as factors impacting success of L2 learners in the light of positive psychology.

Conclusion Artur Skweres

The monograph aimed to analyze the phenomenon of the crisis manifested in various contexts. From the consideration of literature and language of medieval England to cultural changes in America occurring under the influence of the transformation caused by the propagation of printing culture, the authors in the first part of this volume revealed how much remains to be uncovered through novel approaches to the texts, which described how past generations perceived reality in times of crisis. Equally edifying can be the examinations of texts related to contemporary visual culture, prevalent in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, despite sometimes being underrated because of their frequently commercial function. As the authors have shown, both photography and advertising can engage the viewer in a swift and impactful manner to convey messages of great social importance and visualize the unpleasant or shocking sides of reality, to which part of the public would prefer to turn a blind eye. Finally, one of the chapters touched on a topic with a much smaller scope, although from the perspective of everyday concerns it is no less important. The chapter concerned one of the many problems faced by students of English as a foreign language—based on her own research, the author analyzes the causes of anxiety in a situation of speaking in a foreign language and the resulting crisis which the students have to face. It is the hope of the authors that this monograph initiates a discussion on the multifaceted aspects of crisis and its causes. Thanks to the variety of approaches, both methodological and thematic, the authors hope that this book will prove useful to researchers interested in the phenomenon of crisis in broadly understood English and American Studies, as well as media and literary studies, politics, linguistics, advertising, pedagogy, or popular culture.

A. Skweres (B) Department of English, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts in Kalisz, Adam Mickiewicz University in Pozna´n, Pozna´n, Poland e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 A. Skweres (ed.), Putting Crisis in Perspective, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86724-9_8

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To end with, let us quote one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, G. K. Chesterton, who noted that “[t]he way to endure a painful crisis is to insist very much that it is a crisis; to permit people who must feel sad at least to feel important.” (2016). In the very fact of acknowledging the crises of the past or present, we point to the hardships which people dealing with it had to face. There is a great value in not letting such predicaments be forgotten or insufficiently researched. In light of present events, the dire results of which are yet to be determined, there can be no doubt that the notion of crisis in all areas of culture should be considered to be of vital importance. With the publication of this volume, another step toward acknowledging and analyzing past and present crises has been taken.

Reference Chesterton, G. K. (2016). Project Gutenberg’s what’s wrong with the world. Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1717/1717-h/1717-h.htm